Re: Some thoughts about Diversity and the CoC
* Dato Simó:
>> If it turns out that […] what I think […] is unacceptable
>> rather than the way I express it, I will not post any more.
>
> Well, that’s the crux of the problem, isn’t it?
>
> On one hand, there is a clear consensus in the community that
> misgendering someone is something we —Debian— do not tolerate.
> That we’ve chosen to respect the gender identity of our members,
> and prospective members.
>
> On the other hand, someone wil inevitably say: so in order to meet
> the letter of the CoC on this point, it should be enough not to
> misgender any one person in particular, right? Not quite so, in my
> opinion.
>
> The following sentence, and the whole paragraph that contained it,
> said on a Debian mailing list is, in my opinion, in full violation
> of the Code of Conduct, no matter how politely expressed:
>
>> I do not feel that I should acknowledge people’s requests to refer
>> to them by their preferred pronouns […]
>
> Why?
>
> We —Debian— haven’t chosen to respect gender identity as a mere
> courtesy to some members, but have —hopefully— integrated it fully
> into our ethos, the one which wants our members to feel not only
> welcome, but safe. And that must come with consequences, if we
> want to be coherent and not merely pay lip service to diversity.
Not necessarily. It is possible to avoid pronouns altogether even
when talking about specific persons. Just repeat their names as
needed. Possibly rephrase what you write so that there aren't too
many such repetitions (which could impact readability).
Some people have said in other contexts (for other code of conducts)
that this would be in violation, but I don't think that's the Debian
view.
Some cultures have a lot of practice in this area because the choice
of pronoun strongly implies a register. If you are unsure about the
social relationship and how a particular choice will be perceived, you
are forced to avoid them altogether.
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