
“bro” has a gender problem - Tomte
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=366559#c147
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JanneVee
So to successfully contribute to US based open source projects you need
intimate familiarity with US culture and politics not to make a linguistic
faux-pas? Got it... but it doesn't feel inclusive to me.

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thescribe
Inclusivity is making sure no open source anywhere features a shortening of
the word 'brother'. If people outside the US don't understand why that's
offensive I guess they're bigots.

In all seriousness, this has to be the height of meddling for the sake of
meddling.

~~~
JanneVee
> If people outside the US don't understand why that's offensive I guess
> they're bigots.

Yeah look at this bigoted Swedish wikipedia article
[https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bro](https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bro)

> In all seriousness, this has to be the height of meddling for the sake of
> meddling.

For me it is not only meddling. The abbreviation was changed without proper
explanation. "I have asked a feminist friend from the North American culture-
sphere, and she advised against bro." is devoid of any actual information why
it is important to change. I think reasons of "misogynistic" and "offensive"
is not enough.

Because if we look at the other offensive and unacceptable words I'm aware of
I know why they are loaded and how they are perceived badly.

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chazu
I fully expect to be downvoted to oblivion for pointing this out, however it
seems to me that the supposition that the word 'bro' is inherently
'misogynistic' is not only absurd (bro is simply a shortening of the word
brother, after all) but it also reveals a deep-seated devaluation (and even
demonization) of maleness which I find disturbing.

~~~
omginternets
Meanwhile "She++" [1] is perfectly okay, it seems.

[1] [http://www.sheplusplus.org/](http://www.sheplusplus.org/)

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wink
Reminds me of the guy being called out on irc for accidentally writing "jap"
(German version of "yep", literally putting a "p" at the end of the translated
"yes")

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codingbinary
According to that logic we can also go ahead and ban all products that rely on
the chemical element Bromine.

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onion2k
Seems like an eminently sensible outcome. The fact is, regardless of context,
a word that has a derogatory or inflammatory meaning in a separate context
will always be questioned. It doesn't matter if _you_ find it acceptable; this
is about respecting other people's boundaries.

Substitute "bro" for any word that you would find inappropriate and the
problem becomes obvious.

~~~
r0naa
Do you realize that your reasoning can be extended ad nauseam to everything,
all the time? So much that you will find yourself spending more time on
finding a name that actually building anything.

Should Coq - the proof assistant - be renamed to something else, because it is
pronounced like "cock"?

Yes? Even though it is a project of the INRIA (One of France's Computer
Science research institute) and means "rooster" in French.

This overly fixated attitude toward "respecting other people's boundaries" is
very much begging for mockery. Perhaps as much as it is intellectually
dishonest because it leaves so many questions, and unknowns unanswered.

How do you know what are the others' personal boundaries? Is there group whose
boundaries does not matter> Does this rule extend to any creative work? Should
existing projects be renamed? Are boundaries dynamics? Can someone be offended
by this rule? Or are there rules about things that you can be offended about,
or not?

There are _so_ many issues with this paradigm of thinking.

Let me suggest an alternative: common sense.

~~~
tenaciousDaniel
And one comment even pointed out perfectly good reasons not to consider br -
"'br' is already an abbreviation for Brazil and is the HTML tag for
linebreak".

~~~
strangecasts
The same comment suggested "bti" as a sensible alternative, though.

