Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

news.ycombinator.com

141–150 of 212 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

#142
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain your first sentence? I'm not sure what you're trying to say. I'm not defending bigotry/sexism/etc. Hopefully, you didn't take my comment that way.

I'm not defending bigotry/sexism/etc You're defending the ad. By extension defending any sexism contained within it (actual sexism TBD).

Your conclusion does not follow from the premise.

You can defend something based on one merit, while not supporting a related detriment.

Re: Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

#143

There is kind of a weird irony gap going on here -- to me it seems unremarkably obvious that all of the over-the-top language in the posting is tongue-in-cheek. Do people think they actually plan to "get crunk"? Programmers are stereotypically un-hip; the whole "brogrammer" meme is a deliberate poke at the incongruity of someone hunched over their keyboard 14 hours a day, yet drinking Natty Lights while wearing poppe…

"Crunk" literally means being intoxicated from both marijuana and alcohol simultaneously. There's no way this posting was serious about the amount of partying. If one reads carefully, the ad does claim that non-bros are welcome to apply, but I doubt that anybody else has read that far.

...and a little bit of that "sean parker" if you know what i mean

Re: Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

#144

Woman programmer here: I automatically assumed they were looking for college aged men. "Brogrammer," is not a unisex term, no matter how they try to spin it.

Another woman programmer here: This is exactly what I assumed and I agree there is no way it can be considered a unisex term. I would assume the culture at the company is immature and not a place a woman programmer would want to work anyway, so I would avoid applying for any position at this company.

Fellow here, and that's how I read it as well--as a term to exclude (whether that be women, nerds, or the properly socialized). It was, however, a useful filter on my side--I work in speech technology and might have wasted time following up.

Re: Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

#145
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another woman programmer here: I'm glad I'm not the only one who assumed this.

(Not a woman programmer here) The sad thing is that despite the clear evidence ("real women programmers read it as a gendered term") we'll no doubt see a ton of posts on this thread arguing that it's clearly not a problem. That said, I'm reasonably sure that it's not intentionally exclusionary. The poster had an image in their head of a work environment and came up with "brogrammer" as a catchy way to describe it. Th…

I agree that the poster may not have intended to exclude women, but when they imagined that work environment in their head I'll bet they weren't imagining it full of women writing code.

Re: Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

#146

Woman programmer here: I automatically assumed they were looking for college aged men. "Brogrammer," is not a unisex term, no matter how they try to spin it.

> "Brogrammer," is not a unisex term, no matter how they try to spin it.

No one sensible would try to spin it as unisex. I think it's simply an oversight on their part - more stronger than addressing a gathering "hey guys", but on the same lines.

Re: Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

#148

There is kind of a weird irony gap going on here -- to me it seems unremarkably obvious that all of the over-the-top language in the posting is tongue-in-cheek. Do people think they actually plan to "get crunk"? Programmers are stereotypically un-hip; the whole "brogrammer" meme is a deliberate poke at the incongruity of someone hunched over their keyboard 14 hours a day, yet drinking Natty Lights while wearing poppe…

"Crunk" literally means being intoxicated from both marijuana and alcohol simultaneously. There's no way this posting was serious about the amount of partying. If one reads carefully, the ad does claim that non-bros are welcome to apply, but I doubt that anybody else has read that far.

I don't know where you got your "literal" definition but that is certainly not the colloquial definition where I come from. It just means general inebriation without implying any particular substances (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=get+crunk).

Also, if you read the post it says "at least once a month". Personally I don't really consider that an excessive amount of partying but I guess everyone has their own thresholds.

Re: Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason there's a law against it is because bigots that still exist keep women from attaining equality and that's bad, not the other way around. It is in itself bad. You have a strange moral compass to me. I know it's fun to be laddish when you're at college and uni, but cultural fit can often be a polite way of saying 'Hey, I'm a bigot, women are stupid and I'm not employing them above the level of secretary!'. I…

This is not a political site so I'm not going to debate the merits/drawbacks of outlawing bigotry in hiring practices. But one thing that ought to be pointed out is that free markets tend to punish companies, over the long term, that intentionally deny themselves access to talent due to bigotry. Conversely, companies who acquire talent with rational screening procedures will have a competitive advantage over those wh…

> free markets tend to punish companies, over the long term, that intentionally deny themselves access to talent due to bigotry. Conversely, companies who acquire talent with rational screening procedures will have a competitive advantage over those who use irrational screening procedures.

That sounds a lot like fair world fallacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis

Re: Ask HN: Is brogrammer a sexist term?

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does "brogrammer" mean male programmer? No.

Are you sure? I'm not sure how seriously a person could talk to a woman by addressing her as "bro".

Calling anybody "bro" is rarely serious. I would actually feel less stupid calling a woman "bro" than a man, because if I call a guy "bro" people might think I was serious.
Post reply on HN