use Perl

• Contradictions.. (Score:1)

  by castaway (8384) on 2009.04.29 7:19 (#68345)

  Somehow your rant seems self-contradicting from here..

  "it's tiring to always be made to feel different, abnormal."

  So why not accept the logical thought (well to me anyway), and assume that everyone is included, its just a figure of speach?

  IMO its much more of a compliment to have ones existance acknowledged by NOT being mentioned extra, by the speaker (or mst, whatever) just meaning everyone. "Man" is a race, as well as a gender.

  I'd rather we did away with the -woman badges (it got started cos some *guy* said that women might be offended), and went back to the "its for everyone".

  Jess - female, and just getting on with it.

  Reply to This

  • Re: (Score:1)

    by jarich (4909)

    I am an advocate for getting more girls and women into IT, and for keeping the ones we have. This is getting harder. The barriers aren't actually that big; but the biggest one is perception. If we choose words that suggest that something is for men only, that is how a lot of people will see it. When people talk about the "guys" or "blokes" or "men" at Perl Mongers and other IT related things, I presume that they're just being lazy with their words and that I'm included, but not everyone does. Some peo
    • Re: (Score:1)

      by chromatic (983)

      We should be doing everything we possibly can to show that not only is Perl still alive and vibrant, but that it's also welcoming. One little step to help achieve that is to not treat male as the normal, typical, and expected condition.

      That's difficult, but it's also very important. Sometimes even the choice of language helps. I'm usually not a fan of bending usage to fit perceived social goals, but I try in my writings to include women with the language I use.

      It's worth trying, anyway, just to see how