Why "Ubuntu Women"?

[ekimus]

Hi there,

I've seen quite a bunch of projects supporting women in different areas. To be honest I feel quite disturbed by those projects. Not that it's a bad idea it's just that a lot of these projects work in a way that is really annoying.

A lot of people that are active in such projects tend to care more about the actual person tey are talking to than the subject they talk about. I found that most of those people are like

"Uh, oh, there's a women here. We now need to play nicely, watch our speech, and because it's a woman we can't say: 'You're talking ********' when she actually does"

This is one thing that disturbs me most about these things, the second thing is that 90% of the time men start to think in these terms and that's imo the worst thing to do because (hopefully) when I say something that offends everyone can stand up and talk by his/herself.

When I talk to an indivudual I don't care what sex he or she is. I try to keep my speech at the same level they do. I try to be patient when I know more on topics, and try not to aks questions where I could find the answer myself, so that I don't start annoying other people.

So my question is why do I need to care wether I get an answer from a man or woman, or wether I answer a question.
Or in a wider view: Why should I wether it's a woman or a man.

PS: I normally don't put in this disclaimer but this is a special topic to talk on so: I'm not a native english speaker, if there is something with a really offending wording in there:

1. tell me (and pls also tell me how it's right)
2. try not to start flaming.

[kleeman]

This is a strange post- sounds like you are a bit nervous about sex roles. Personally I just tell my wife she is full of it when I think she is and I receive the same treatment in return. This is healthy! My wife is a very strong feminist and never expects me to modify my (usually coarse) behaviour and I don't expect her to modify hers. What's the big deal, we are all adults aren't we? Of course stupid macho aggro is another matter.

[endy]

From what I recall of my education men and women do tend to use language quite differently and situations like this crop up all the time.

[Teroedni]

Agree with Kleeman there

qoute
So my question is why do I need to care wether I get an answer from a man or woman, or wether I answer a question.
Or in a wider view: Why should I wether it's a woman or a man.
qoute


You dont need to care about that. It seems this is something you are making up.

[poptones]

I rarely even read the name of the person I am replying to before replying to them. Not only do I not care if the person is a man or a woman, I don't care how old they are or even if they are a "friend" or not.

if you think you should not care... then don't. It's really as simple as that.

[kvidell]

I think what the OP is trying to ask is why did we feel the need to make a special place for our lady posters.
What makes them so "special" that they get their own forum. Why don't other "special interest groups" get their own forum too, then? (I want a Gaybuntu forum! ;P)

I wondered this originally but the mods posted some good reasoning for it (which is easily found since this forum is still comparitively small), and thought it was a cool networking strategy anyway.

Does that clear anything up or had you already gathered that?

And to poptones... Re: "I rarely read the name of the person who posted before": I rarely read the forum I'm in.
I use the "New Posts" button the find things to reply to. Occasionally the "Unanswered Threads".
I rarely pay attention to where it actually is.

Cheers,
- Kev

[poptones]

I rarely read the forum I'm in. I use the "New Posts" button the find things to reply to. Occasionally the "Unanswered Threads". I rarely pay attention to where it actually is.

Ditto. But one thing I DO check is "threads I am in." And on that note I hope one of the moderators sees this and can respond: why is this not a "quick link?" In order to check up on discussion I have participated in I have to click search, advanced search, wait for THAT page to load (I am on dialup), click in "member name" and type my nick, then click "search" - every single time I visit here - just to keep track on discussion I have participated in.

This should be a single click or at most two. Am I overlooking something here?

I guess I could be... I didn't even know this place has a "women's forum." Are men allowed? What's to stop me from making an alt-ID and joining the fray? I must admit it does seem a bit silly and, in that it implies women need protection, I find it a bit offensive.

ROTFL. See? I didn't even know I was in the women's forum...

[ekimus]

EDITED:

kvidell is right, this is my point:

ubuntu for afro-(whatever)-people
ubuntu for gays | lesbians
ubuntu for transsexuals
ubuntu for physically handicapped people
ubuntu for psychologically handicapped people (don't know the correct phrase)
ubuntu for SuSE users *g* (no harm ment)

why are women so special and the others not?

[endy]

Re: poptones

Going off topic here but I believe you can if go your your "User CP" on the forum, click on "Edit Options" and then locate the "Default Thread Subscription Mode" you can set how you want to subscribe to thread you reply to or start. Then use the "Quick links" button and select "Subscribed Threads".

[primeirocrime]

I think this section of the forums is not inteded to be a safe environment for women or a place where women adress pre-concived representations of what is being a woman. It's more of a place for discussing-promoting-devise projects, ideas and concerns in Ubuntu but with a prespective of women that continue to be in lesser number in the IT world. Realising that there is huge population of men developing software and that not always they take a perspective diferent from them. It's not that Ubuntu Women is addressing GUI stuff like more pink and more flowers or watch your language! Just read a bit what the women in ubuntu women are talking about.

And I do not really see the need for every other spawn of ubuntu forums, we could go to a infinite number of option here and it's not about that I think. Ubuntu Women is not intended to be a kind of segregated place [«oh yeah, that is the girls club over there«]

Women are half of humanity, and in that group there are gay, handicapped, any other ethnical variety that exists in the world contained.

This not to say that ubuntuforums main sections are male only areas [ with gay, handicapped, any other ethnical variety that exists in the world]