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I can't even imagine being that fragile that seeing a gendered pronoun would be upsetting.

• matthewmacleod 10y ago
  It's not that it's upsetting as an individual event, and I can't help but feel this is a bit of a straw man. What's maybe more of an issue is that is there is a long-term bias in the use of gendered language, across multiple projects, in code and documentation and comments, then that does seem like an obvious bug. It's a very small thing, but one of those things that in aggregate could contribute to the perception of a more general gender imbalance in the industry. But think off it another way – for no cost, you can make other people feel slightly more comfortable in the long term working in this field. Why bother fighting it?
• rexpop 10y ago
  In fact, it may not be upsetting, but merely another in a long line of brief experiences that inform the audience — male and female — that women have no place in technical documentation, technical stories, programming, technology, prosperity, agency, or power. These are the minute bricks of social construction, and we can either choose to ignore them (and replicate existing oppressive social structures) or fix them (and make conscious choices about the society we construct). If, indeed, you are opposed to women programming, I can think of no better long-term solution than persistently emphasizing the maleness of technology or exclusively using male pronouns. To come out and blankly state that "women should not be in programming" would be met with the Backfire Effect, so subtlety is necessary, here. Keep up the good work.