On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 11:43 AM, Thomas Koenig <fossa(a)gmx.li> wrote:
Sue, Delphine & al.,
On Mon, 07 Feb 2011 11:25:25 +0100, Delphine Ménard <notafishz(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 7:51 AM, Sue Gardner
<sgardner(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
[...]
So just
to make sure I'm understanding this: on for example the German
Wikipedia, not only are all registered users identified as part of a
male category (Benutzer, "male user"), but the actual invitation to
register in the first place is itself also gendered (Benutzerkonto,
"account for male users")?
Hmm. It is a bit more complicated that that. When you translate it
into English, "account for male users" sounds terrible, but in French
(or German, for that matter) having to sign up for a "Compte
d'utilisateur" or a "Benutzerkonto" does not sound that bad, at least
not to me.
JFTR: "Benutzerinkonto" is not a German word, it would look awkward to say
the least to any native German speaker.
Yeah, that's what I thought. Compte d'utilisatrice would sound weird,
although it would be correct.
Besides that, I find all the chatter about grammar,
quite tangential.
There is a culture of misogyny in the Wikimedia projects, way above the
level of comparable work or even volunteer environments, which is neither
due to the use of grammar, nor can it be adequately fought with a change
grammer rules in the software.
Heh, have you then never been addressed as a "Benutzerin"? ;)
"notafish" is gender neutral enough that "utilisatrice" changes the
whole perspective when appended to the username.
I agree that this may not be the most important issue, but I also
believe that all issues that can be tackled should be tackled. And
this is one which might prove quie easy to tackle, actually.
Delphine
--
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