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...'The issue has spilled over into other Internet companies too, as Horvath quite correctly called out Secret, the anonymous-sharing app, for leaving up what i
by vladgur 13y ago
...'The issue has spilled over into other Internet companies too, as Horvath quite correctly called out Secret, the anonymous-sharing app, for leaving up what is an appalling post about her, in which she is called “Queen.”.....
I signed up for the Secret yesterday based on the HN comments of their UX interactions and I immediately noticed that in comments below Secret posts, people are assigned random icons and then refer to each other by what the icon looks like. She refered to the author of that Secret comment as "greenshirt" in her tweets. Is it possible that the "Queen" was a reference to her icon(which we dont see from the screenshot), rather than an insult. It could be just be attributed to a chess figure icon.
- vladgur 13y agoOMFG, seriously Recode? you registration that requires a password sends it over plain text to an http post? I was about to register to comment, but now i will have to use a throwaway email, password
- sergiotapia 13y agoIs it wrong to call a woman a "Queen"? What.the.fuck. I call my wife 'mi reina' and my daughter 'princesita'. Are you telling me these retards are saying that's a no-no?
- jkelsey 13y agoYes. You don't use gendered pronouns to refer to your coworkers and professional associates because you're reducing that person to their gender when it rarely matters. Also, you don't call people 'retards' because that's insulting to people with disabilities. What you call your wife and daughter is between you and your family.
- sergiotapia 13y agoI had no idea using 'retard' in conversation was offensive to disabled people. TIL. I'll try not to use it again outside of close friends.
- bchociej 13y agoIf I recall correctly, 'retard' has a very different connotation in Spanish-speaking cultures than in Anglophone ones.
- dictum 13y agoCan't speak for the person who called her "queen", but that's the problem with some words being gendered and others not. Most words in my mother tongue are gendered even if the thing they're referring to are objects with no innate gender. Cultural insensitivity or not, I fail to see how calling a woman a queen reduces her to her gender. Hell, I can't see how calling a man a queen reduces him to any gender. I'm assuming whoever called her a queen wanted to allude to a domineering personality, and indeed nobody is called a "king" for being pushy and domineering, but the sentiment is also expressed in regards to men, as in "he does X like he fucking owns the place".
- untog 13y agoAlso, being pushy and domineering is seen as a positive in men, but is almost always seen as a negative in women.
- dictum 13y agoI don't know, I've personally seen both men and women be criticized for domineering attitudes in similar situations. Some men are less likely to criticize men for their domineering attitude for fear of starting a fight (some men don't physically attack women, but will attack men), making an enemy with bully tendencies, losing their job, etc. Perhaps it's not that men being pushy and domineering is really appreciated, it's just accepted as a fact of life to prevent uncomfortable repercussions.
- jkelsey 13y ago> I fail to see how calling a woman a queen reduces her to her gender. Hell, I can't see how calling a man a queen reduces him to any gender. You may see it that way, and I won't question your integrity about it. However, it is undeniable that there has been a ton of misogyny directed towards women in the workspace in fields that have been classically dominated by men. And, the perpetrators of which, typically have used sexually-charged terms, such as "Queen", to refer negatively to women attempting to elevate their careers within in a organization in no different manner than a man would. This isn't a semantic argument. It's quite possible to work in a professional setting with members of the other gender, and critique a coworker has having as being pushy and domineering without resulting to gender pronouns. Regardless if you think that the use of them implies that you think the other gender is equal or not, the context described in my previous paragraph makes it hard to escape the perception that if you use them, you don't think the genders are equal.
- theorique 13y ago> You don't use gendered pronouns to refer to your coworkers and professional associates because you're reducing that person to their gender when it rarely matters. Huh? You mean you should not refer to your coworkers as "he" or "she" when they are a man and a woman, respectively? This doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
- jkelsey 13y agoAre you being purposely obtuse? The root of this entire thread was around the use of the word "Queen" to criticize a female coworker. Please don't take my point out of context. If you really want to have a argument over semantics, then I'll amend my original argument to say "veiled gender pronouns".
- theorique 13y agoNo, I think I'm getting thrown off by the correct definition of the word pronoun. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pronoun http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pronoun "Queen" is not a pronoun, gendered or otherwise, it's a noun that refers to a female person.
- jgamman 13y agoFFS i've seen the problem and it's you
- shawnz 13y agoYou are being obtuse here. The issue was the inflammatory tone of the language being used, of which that was just one part. There are tons of contexts where it would be perfectly fine.
- untog 13y agoDo you seriously not know the difference between a professional and a personal context?
- sergiotapia 13y agoOf course I do, but US etiquette is not the same as another country's.
- untog 13y agoI didn't see anyone suggesting worldwide rules.
- steveklabnik 13y agoThe original post the comment is attached to said, roughly, "The self-proclaimed Queen of GitHub is leaving. The masses cheer." That's what 'queen' is referring to.