Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Poll: Sexual orientation

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 40 posts

Re: Poll: Sexual orientation

#31

Post by kintamanimatt »

aray wrote: post #20

This isn't just looking at sexual orientation, but gender identity and sexual orientation. Just asking about sexual orientation would be something like: Choose which of the following best represents you: Homosexual, Heterosexual, Bisexual, Other.

It's better to have too much detail than too little. At least it's trivial to strip away data if you want, but we can't add it back in if it wasn't there to begin with.

Also, it seems that sexual orientation has different spreads across genders (judging by other studies), which is why I added in gender.

Re: Poll: Sexual orientation

#32

Post by kintamanimatt »

ritchiea wrote: post #24
kintamanimatt wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, it's a curiosity, partly because I'm a gay guy and partly because sexual orientation isn't something that's outwardly obvious. The anonymity of an internet poll is the perfect place to find out. I know we could poll the hell out of the community and drill down to all kinds of details, but the one thing I've never, ever heard anybody discuss is the distribution of sexual orientations in tech, or at least as is…

It's actually interesting to hear that you're serious. After the backlash against the gender poll I instinctively thought your poll was snark directed at the original poll e.g. "You think asking your gender is intrusive? Well how about I ask about your sexual orientation?"

Not at all! It's just something that's never been discussed and I wanted to know how "alone" I am in terms of sexual orientation in the tech industry!

Re: Poll: Sexual orientation

#33

Post by mdisraeli »

Female, technically more pansexual but I happily take part in the bisexual community in the UK [1]

Fun fact: I personally found it helped me to be queer when you're a woman in IT. I've generally found creepy guy control much easier by being A. butch, and B. generally stating I'm not interested in guys [2]. I was able to handle awkward interview questions along the lines of "But you're a GIRL" [3] by claiming to be "one of the boys". This doesn't mean that all of this wasn't a painful compromise, and I know I was ultimately confirming to heteronormativity rather than smashing it. But we do what we must, not because we can, but to survive.

I'm currently working on getting an LGBT+ organisation started in the office. If you have any experience of running one, or are generally LGBT+ in the UK, feel free to get in touch :)

[1] http://www.bicon.org.uk/ [2] 80/20 in favour of women, to briefly adhere to a binary system [3] Actual interview question. And people wonder why I'm a feminist hacker....

Re: Poll: Sexual orientation

#34

Post by omonra »

malodyets wrote: post #26
anExcitedBeast wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this makes me a terrible person, but "other" tells us nothing and seems to completely dodge the question.

Except that some of other stripe prefer "other" to having to choose between male and female, and it respects them to provide that option.

Ok, their preference for being called something other than male/female aside, what does it mean? They're hermaphrodites or transexuals who have breasts & penis?

Re: Poll: Sexual orientation

#35

Post by Mz »

pmelendez wrote: post #29
[deleted] wrote: post #12

[deleted]

none of the above? not even "Female - Unknown"?

Sorry, I deleted my comment because the poll was killed. It has been unkilled.

I am "female -- none of the above" because I know what I am, I just don't know of a word for it. On psych exams, I test high for bisexual traits. From age 11 to 16, I had a string of girlfriends. I began menstruating, "discovered" boys and have been a practicing heterosexual ever since. But my wiring isn't entirely hetero. I don't think we have good language at this time which clearly distinguishes wiring from lifestyle. I imagine most bisexuals would be offended if I claimed to be bi and it would also send out the wrong social message. I already get hit on sometimes by women. I don't want more of that. I strongly prefer men.

I hope that clears that up for you.

Re: Poll: Sexual orientation

#36

Post by DanBC »

omonra wrote: post #34
malodyets wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that some of other stripe prefer "other" to having to choose between male and female, and it respects them to provide that option.

Ok, their preference for being called something other than male/female aside, what does it mean? They're hermaphrodites or transexuals who have breasts & penis?

Yes, sometimes it means people who have both sets of organs. Or people who take hormones but do not want surgery. Or a bunch of other stuff.

> Who decides if I'm a woman?

> A spat between feminist Suzanne Moore and transgender rights activists played out on social networking sites, and then hit the headlines when journalist Julie Burchill joined in too.

> Jo Fidgen explores the underlying ideas which cause so much tension between radical feminists and transgender campaigners, and discovers why recent changes in the law and advances in science are fuelling debate.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rbrtd)

Re: Poll: Sexual orientation

#37

Post by st8ic »

aray wrote: post #20

This isn't just looking at sexual orientation, but gender identity and sexual orientation. Just asking about sexual orientation would be something like: Choose which of the following best represents you: Homosexual, Heterosexual, Bisexual, Other.

No, it's looking at sex, not gender.

Re: Poll: Sexual orientation

#38

Post by general_failure »

mdisraeli wrote: post #33

Female, technically more pansexual but I happily take part in the bisexual community in the UK [1] Fun fact: I personally found it helped me to be queer when you're a woman in IT. I've generally found creepy guy control much easier by being A. butch, and B. generally stating I'm not interested in guys [2]. I was able to handle awkward interview questions along the lines of "But you're a GIRL" [3] by claiming to be "o…

I had never heard the word 'pansexual' before this :) TIL..
Post reply on HN