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Not really. As much as it pains social justice warriors today, in English, the words 'he', 'his', and 'him' have a gender neutral usage. And in any case, sayi

Not really. As much as it pains social justice warriors today, in English, the words 'he', 'his', and 'him' have a gender neutral usage. And in any case, saying that a computer science security researcher is male is way less than a bit of entropy.

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
> As much as it pains social justice warriors today, in English, the words 'he', 'his', and 'him' have a gender neutral usage. 'He' is sometimes used in this fashion, but it is an uncommon use, and it's arguable that in some contexts the author actually means a man and has not considered the possibility of a woman. Certainly in this case, why would you assume that it is used in a gender-neutral sense? > And in any case, saying that a computer science security researcher is male is way less than a bit of entropy. Fair point.
- Bootvis 11y ago
  It's just not true that it's an uncommon use, see [1] and [2]. So even with the profession left unspecified (which I believe it is, might have missed it) the entropy is less than 1 bit. [1]: http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-they-be-accepted-as-a-singular-pronoun-1428686651 http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-they-be-accepted-as-a-singul... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_English#Pronouns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_English#P...
- jakub_h 11y ago
  > 'He' is sometimes used in this fashion, but it is an uncommon use Says someone unfamiliar with Indo-European languages in general?
- stordoff 11y ago
  > 'He' is sometimes used in this fashion, but it is an uncommon use It may be partly due to my background (I studied law [in the UK], and it is law that all statutes refering to 'he' be read in a gender-neutral fashion unless it is clear that the opposite is intended[0]), but I never assume that 'he' refers to a man unless that is obvious from the context. The gender-neutral usage of 'he' is fairly widespread. [0] FWIW, the updated Interpretation Act (from 1978) applied the same to 'she', though I don't recall ever reading a statute that used 'she' as the gender-neutral term.

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago

> As much as it pains social justice warriors today, in English, the words 'he', 'his', and 'him' have a gender neutral usage. 'He' is sometimes used in this fashion, but it is an uncommon use, and it's arguable that in some contexts the author actually means a man and has not considered the possibility of a woman. Certainly in this case, why would you assume that it is used in a gender-neutral sense? > And in any case, saying that a computer science security researcher is male is way less than a bit of entropy. Fair point.

Bootvis 11y ago
It's just not true that it's an uncommon use, see [1] and [2]. So even with the profession left unspecified (which I believe it is, might have missed it) the entropy is less than 1 bit. [1]: http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-they-be-accepted-as-a-singular-pronoun-1428686651 http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-they-be-accepted-as-a-singul... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_English#Pronouns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_English#P...
jakub_h 11y ago
> 'He' is sometimes used in this fashion, but it is an uncommon use Says someone unfamiliar with Indo-European languages in general?
stordoff 11y ago
> 'He' is sometimes used in this fashion, but it is an uncommon use It may be partly due to my background (I studied law [in the UK], and it is law that all statutes refering to 'he' be read in a gender-neutral fashion unless it is clear that the opposite is intended[0]), but I never assume that 'he' refers to a man unless that is obvious from the context. The gender-neutral usage of 'he' is fairly widespread. [0] FWIW, the updated Interpretation Act (from 1978) applied the same to 'she', though I don't recall ever reading a statute that used 'she' as the gender-neutral term.