Comments on: Mark respects girls

By: LinuxCanuck

LinuxCanuck — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:23:50 +0000

Unfortunately Mark has chosen not to apologize and has sent a private email to that effect to Ms. Roberts. I can hardly blame him responding to her in this way due to the condescending tone of her open letter. I doubt that an apology would end it.
However, he owes it to his base to apologize. He needs to clear the air and get on with the job. One of the things that he needs to do is set a goal of making Ubuntu more inclusive. This could be something such as looking at inclusive language in the community or in opening up opportunities for women.
I have heard his address and it is too bad that this has overshadowed his message which was quite good in terms of content.

By: Chris Ball: On keynotes and apologies | Full-Linux.com

Chris Ball: On keynotes and apologies | Full-Linux.com — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:06:05 +0000

[...] Jones also made a post defending Mark and I’d like to reply to that [...]

By: Homage to Icarus » Blog Archive » Siding with the Bastards

Homage to Icarus » Blog Archive » Siding with the Bastards — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:43:47 +0000

[...] I haven’t read a transcript or seen a video, because the people ranting about this are seemingly unable to link to either, lest you judge it for [...]

By: Chris Ball: On keynotes and apologies | TuxWire : The Linux Blog

Chris Ball: On keynotes and apologies | TuxWire : The Linux Blog — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:49:32 +0000

[...] Jones also made a post defending Mark and I’d like to reply to that too: “When Mark said try to explain to girls, he was not [...]

By: mattjones

mattjones — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:23:25 +0000

@ Douglas English is a very sexist language. They even cover “sexist language” in most english courses.

I think it is perfectly appropriate for him to say girl the way he did. And I do think people say guys as a shortcut or less formal form of people. What else are you going to say? Individuals? That has been a problem for a long time. No reason to point it out unless you have a solution, or are not going to use it as a reason to be critical of someone.

I thought this could turn into bike shedding or a sound byte when I heard it.

By: Douglas Whitfield

Douglas Whitfield — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:58:54 +0000

I agree with you that it was about impressing women, but you aren’t going to win everybody over with “everybody says guys when they mean people”. I don’t think it’s sexist, unless English as a language is just sexist (which, I’m willing to listen to that argument). English doesn’t have neuter pronouns like other languages…though in this case, unless Mark is bi-sexual, it wouldn’t have made sense.

As a male that has had many females close their ears when I start talking about technology, I might suggest to Mark just simple not to try. It’s not that they can’t understand, it’s that they don’t care…and obviously there are exceptions that prove the rule.

By: emmajane

emmajane — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:40:02 +0000

s/girls/women/

I’m pretty sure that Mark isn’t a pedophile.