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Here's the male version: John’s one of the smartest guy I know, and I thought that he was a perfect pick for the role of moderator. When we selected John and
by phzbOx 15y ago
Here's the male version:
John’s one of the smartest guy I know, and I thought that he was a perfect pick for the role of moderator. When we selected John and he said yes, he was a handsome single man. And since that time, he’s become a handsome married man, and so I wanted his lucky new spouse to stand up. So we’ve got not only a very talented, but a happy moderator.
Would someone saying that get to the top of hacker news? I do agree that this is far from a good introduction thought.
- boredguy8 15y agoIs systemic exclusion of men from technology an endemic problem and I missed it? Are men commonly characterized by their physical attractiveness and marital status? It's appropriate to give attention to a widespread and often unacknowledged problem while not giving the same attention to statistical noise.
- yummyfajitas 15y agoIs systemic exclusion of men from technology an endemic problem and I missed it? You are assuming that "systemic exclusion of women from technology" is a proven fact. It isn't.
- seldo 15y agoDoesn't it sound super-weird though? You'd never talk about a guy's marital status and the attractiveness of his spouse in his introduction at a tech conference; why on earth would you say it about a woman?
- erichocean 15y agoYou would if you were speaking to an audience full of women, where that kind of comment happens all the time. And where, I might add, no one rushes to the defense of men with a "cut the sexist crap" article.
- brown9-2 15y agoSo it's ok if you make these references to pander to your audience? I have a hard time imagining a man saying this about another man in front of any type of audience.
- erichocean 15y agoClearly, the opposite situation is a woman saying something about a man to a group composed 90% of women. And yeah, that happens all the time. Somehow, men deal with it (I know: the horror.)
- thtrombonist 15y agoI don't agree with the idea that because one group deals with it, everyone should. This also discards context -- if something is systemic and happens all the time, it has a different impact than something exceptional.
- yc11 15y agoThese things aren't symmetric. Check out: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/17/tanya-gold-stripping http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/17/tanya-go...
- ben0x539 15y agoMaybe we could hand the poor men some wage disparity to make up for that sort of thing. Oh, wait.
- mcantor 15y agoAnd where, I might add, no one rushes to the defense of men with a "cut the sexist crap" article. Why would they? Men aren't being oppressed by sexism!
- scott_s 15y agoThe male version is "sexy single man." The flip side of your version is "pretty single woman." None are acceptable in a professional setting.
- angusgr 15y agoDo you actually think that the appropriate "male version" of sexy is handsome? Sexy is a non gender-specific adjective. The male version is this: John’s one of the smartest guy I know, and I thought that he was a perfect pick for the role of moderator. When we selected John and he said yes, he was a sexy single man. And since that time, he’s become a sexy married man, and so I wanted his lucky new spouse to stand up. So we’ve got not only a very talented, but a happy moderator. ... and noone would get up and say this as an introduction. Which is why this is at the top of Hacker News.
- reitzensteinm 15y agoExactly. I'd be a lot less creeped out if the presenter said 'beautiful' instead of 'sexy', but it would still be a strange way to do an intro.
- joedev 15y agoNo one ever says that which is what makes it sexist when it is said of women.
- lubujackson 15y agoLet's say the man is the moderator of a predominantly female workforce, like nurses. At best, this would come off as unprofessional but flattering. But the real problem is the underlying assumption that a good-looking person who happens to be in a predominantly other-gendered profession is going to be treated like chum to the sharks. In other words, the thinking behind saying something like that is "wow, that person is really good looking and everyone wants to have sex with them, so what's a good way to deflect that?" It's really more of an insult to the audience than the speaker.
- rayiner 15y agoIt wouldn't get to the top of hacker news, because: 1) Nobody does that; 2) It's not the tip of a bigger iceberg. Better equivalents: A) John being introduced at a PTA meeting in a way that draws attention to stereotypes of males as inept and uninvolved in child rearing. B) Jamal being introduced at a business meeting in a way that awkwardly draws attention to his white girlfriend. C) Amir being introduced at a social gathering in a way that draws attention to terrorist Middle Easterners. At best this is a weird social faux-pas.
- paganel 15y agoNever been into these kind of conferences anyway, but as an attendee why the heck would I care if John, or Jessica or whoever is married (happily or not)? That whole remark was just superfluous.