Bug#736588: debian-handbook: gendered language used when referring to subjects
Hi, On Fri, 9 Jan 2015 00:39:11 +0100 Raphael Hertzog hert...@debian.org wrote: On Thu, 08 Jan 2015, Johannes Schauer wrote: Is there still time to supply one? Yes! okay, please find a patch attached. I used the following to search for problems: egrep --color -r [^A-Za-z][Hh]e[^A-Za-z] en-US egrep --color -r [^A-Za-z][Hh]im[^A-Za-z] en-US egrep --color -r [^A-Za-z][Hh]is[^A-Za-z] en-US I also noticed that the section OpenSSL flaw in Debian Etch uses the male pronoun to talk about the OpenSSL maintainer. Now this is probably no problem because the OpenSSL maintainer probably (without having checked) identifies as male. But the paragraph never mentions the identity of the OpenSSL maintainer. So I wonder why the gender of the OpenSSL maintainer is important information in this paragraph. If the name of the maintainer is not given, then why give a hint to their gender? For the technical point this paragraph makes, the gender does not matter. So I wonder whether this paragraph should be made neutral as well. What do you think? cheers, josch From d1f3782d34cac0d7f57356064a2bfb7eab3e4ded Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: josch j.scha...@email.de Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2015 09:37:02 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] be more gender neutral --- en-US/01_the-debian-project.xml | 8 en-US/15_debian-packaging.xml | 2 +- 2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) diff --git a/en-US/01_the-debian-project.xml b/en-US/01_the-debian-project.xml index 2562483..d9be601 100644 --- a/en-US/01_the-debian-project.xml +++ b/en-US/01_the-debian-project.xml @@ -866,9 +866,9 @@ within which the developers can relate: the views of the DPL are implicitly approved by the majority of project members./para - paraSpecifically, the leader has real authority; his vote resolves - tie votes; he can make any decision which is not already under the - authority of someone else and can delegate part of his + paraSpecifically, the leader has real authority; their vote resolves + tie votes; they can make any decision which is not already under the + authority of someone else and can delegate part of their responsibilities./para indextermprimaryMurdock, Ian/primary/indexterm indextermprimaryPerens, Bruce/primary/indexterm @@ -1834,7 +1834,7 @@ corrections and search for other problems resulting from the modifications. Several updates may then occur rapidly. During these times, autobuilder robots come into action. Most frequently, the - maintainer has only one traditional PC and has compiled his package + maintainer has only one traditional PC and has compiled their package on the amd64 (or i386) architecture; the autobuilders take over and automatically compile versions for all the other architectures. Some compilations may fail; the maintainer will then receive a bug report diff --git a/en-US/15_debian-packaging.xml b/en-US/15_debian-packaging.xml index c855020..a11787c 100644 --- a/en-US/15_debian-packaging.xml +++ b/en-US/15_debian-packaging.xml @@ -1081,7 +1081,7 @@ release_label = Internal Packages manuals targeting the new maintainers, and in the Debian developer's reference. An attentive reading of this document should be enough to answer the examiner's questions. If the answers are - not satisfactory, the candidate will be informed. He will then have + not satisfactory, the candidate will be informed. They will then have to read (again) the relevant documentation before trying again. In the cases where the existing documentation does not contain the appropriate answer for the question, the candidate can usually -- 2.0.1 signature.asc Description: signature
Bug#736588: debian-handbook: gendered language used when referring to subjects
On Fri, 09 Jan 2015, Johannes Schauer wrote: okay, please find a patch attached. Thanks, merged. I also noticed that the section OpenSSL flaw in Debian Etch uses the male pronoun to talk about the OpenSSL maintainer. Now this is probably no problem because the OpenSSL maintainer probably (without having checked) identifies as male. But the paragraph never mentions the identity of the OpenSSL maintainer. So I wonder why the gender of the OpenSSL maintainer is important information in this paragraph. If the name of the maintainer is not given, then why give a hint to their gender? For the technical point this paragraph makes, the gender does not matter. So I wonder whether this paragraph should be made neutral as well. What do you think? I have no strong opinion so I rewrote the section to avoid such references. Cheers, -- Raphaël Hertzog ◈ Debian Developer Support Debian LTS: http://www.freexian.com/services/debian-lts.html Learn to master Debian: http://debian-handbook.info/get/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#736588: debian-handbook: gendered language used when referring to subjects
Hi, On Thu, 08 Jan 2015, Johannes Schauer wrote: FWIW we're starting to work on the jessie version of the handbook, so now is the good time to consider submitting such patches... did the submitter supply a patch? No. Is there still time to supply one? Yes! Cheers, -- Raphaël Hertzog ◈ Debian Developer Support Debian LTS: http://www.freexian.com/services/debian-lts.html Learn to master Debian: http://debian-handbook.info/get/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#736588: debian-handbook: gendered language used when referring to subjects
Hi, On Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:11:05 +0100 Raphael Hertzog hert...@debian.org wrote: On Sat, 25 Jan 2014, Raphael Hertzog wrote: Some authors express concern that this is ambiguous as 'they' and 'theirs' are often used as plural pronouns. In this case, a short explanation of the inclusive language in the foreword can help. If you're accepting patches, I'm happy to sort this out. It'd be largely a sed script followed by spot-checking the diff. I do accept patches, but those fixes are often better done by rewriting the sentence, either using a synonym to avoid the pronoun or by using passive voice. http://www.herodios.com/pronouns.html FWIW we're starting to work on the jessie version of the handbook, so now is the good time to consider submitting such patches... did the submitter supply a patch? Is there still time to supply one? Thanks! cheers, josch signature.asc Description: signature
Bug#736588: debian-handbook: gendered language used when referring to subjects
On Sat, 25 Jan 2014, Raphael Hertzog wrote: Some authors express concern that this is ambiguous as 'they' and 'theirs' are often used as plural pronouns. In this case, a short explanation of the inclusive language in the foreword can help. If you're accepting patches, I'm happy to sort this out. It'd be largely a sed script followed by spot-checking the diff. I do accept patches, but those fixes are often better done by rewriting the sentence, either using a synonym to avoid the pronoun or by using passive voice. http://www.herodios.com/pronouns.html FWIW we're starting to work on the jessie version of the handbook, so now is the good time to consider submitting such patches... Cheers, -- Raphaël Hertzog ◈ Debian Developer Support Debian LTS: http://www.freexian.com/services/debian-lts.html Learn to master Debian: http://debian-handbook.info/get/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#736588: debian-handbook: gendered language used when referring to subjects
Package: debian-handbook Version: 6.0+20121031 Severity: normal Dear Maintainer, The Debian Administrator's Handbook uses male pronouns when referring to subjects using the system. The effects of exclusive language have been studied quantitatively in a range of fields. One example picked largely at random: http://gradworks.umi.com/33/52/3352854.html I suggest using 'they' and 'theirs' instead of 'he' and 'his' where possible. Some authors express concern that this is ambiguous as 'they' and 'theirs' are often used as plural pronouns. In this case, a short explanation of the inclusive language in the foreword can help. If you're accepting patches, I'm happy to sort this out. It'd be largely a sed script followed by spot-checking the diff. -- System Information: Debian Release: 7.2 APT prefers stable APT policy: (500, 'stable') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Kernel: Linux 3.12.6-1-ARCH (SMP w/2 CPU cores; PREEMPT) Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash -- no debconf information -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#736588: debian-handbook: gendered language used when referring to subjects
Hi Daniel, On Sat, 25 Jan 2014, Daniel Bryan wrote: The effects of exclusive language have been studied quantitatively in a range of fields. One example picked largely at random: http://gradworks.umi.com/33/52/3352854.html I suggest using 'they' and 'theirs' instead of 'he' and 'his' where possible. Some authors express concern that this is ambiguous as 'they' and 'theirs' are often used as plural pronouns. In this case, a short explanation of the inclusive language in the foreword can help. If you're accepting patches, I'm happy to sort this out. It'd be largely a sed script followed by spot-checking the diff. I do accept patches, but those fixes are often better done by rewriting the sentence, either using a synonym to avoid the pronoun or by using passive voice. http://www.herodios.com/pronouns.html Cheers, -- Raphaël Hertzog ◈ Debian Developer Discover the Debian Administrator's Handbook: → http://debian-handbook.info/get/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
