This kind of comment has no place and is irrelevant, IMHO. Even though the statement may be well-meaning, it's completely gender biased.
How many times in an article about a male entrepreneur, or computer scientist, or other interesting person, is his subjective physical attractiveness even a topic of conversation? Almost never - and that's the way it should be for everyone.
Here's a short list, some very legitimate sources that are linked on HN all of the time, that mention Elon being 'sexy', along with a Google search query link for 'Elon Musk handsome' to get a host of other examples.
I can see commenting about a stranger's physical appearance if they're dressed in a surprising way (if somebody shows up at a tech conference in a tux or evening gown, or dresses in a costume, it's reasonable to expect some degree of attention.) I can see commenting if they have known health problems they're recovering from (like late in Steve Jobs' life.) And I can see commenting if someone appears to be considerably younger or older than they actually are [0] (when I was a teen and my parents were in their late 40s or 50s, people occasionally asked if my dad was my brother or my mom was my sister or girlfriend.) Those kinds of comments can be gender-neutral and non-harassing, and furthermore genuinely interesting points of conversation. But we should definitely stay away from creating the impression that physical attractiveness is one of the most important qualities for women in tech, or almost any other professional context.
>How many times in an article about a male entrepreneur, or computer scientist, or other interesting person, is his subjective physical attractiveness even a topic of conversation?
All stories about Elon Musk in the mainstream media.
Yet Elon Musk is remembered is remembered and regarded as an entrepreneur, not as as a physically attractive person. Contrast this with women who are regarded as "sex symbols" and you'll see that their physical appearance is used to overshadow and demean their achievements.
> How many times in an article about a male entrepreneur, or computer scientist, or other interesting person, is his subjective physical attractiveness even a topic of conversation? Almost never - and that's the way it should be for everyone.
I don't know, I would have liked advance warnings for some blokes who turned out disturbingly attractive, making their talks harder than necessary to follow.
If the tech field were evenly split 50/50, do you think women wouldn't comment on the attractiveness of guys?
Maybe, but how would that make a person's (of either gender) physical attractiveness (which is completely subjective, by the way) relevant to a discussion of an article about their technical accomplishments?
You're basically saying "We may, in a hypothetical future, have two wrongs", but remember that 2 * wrong != right.
People have been mentioning that sometimes there are discussions of male entrepreneurs or technical folk that comment on their appearance, but I like to think that HN is above that level of discourse.
The claim was that stating this woman is attractive is "gender biased". My point is that there is no gender bias as shown by women doing the same thing. Aside from the dubious claim of gender bias, "badness" has not been established.
Physical attractiveness is not "completely subjective". There are very well established body proportions, symmetries, and other physical indicators of human attractiveness that are consistent across cultures and throughout time.
If I were gay, and I saw an unusually attractive (male) entrepreneur or programmer or whatever, I'd probably mention it as well. It's not sexist when it's equally balanced to men and women.
(However, given the demographics and percentages - male/female, straight/gay - you're going to get a lot more straight men commenting on women's looks in this sort of area.)
