Since I started this OT conversation I'd better explain a bit more. The audio world has a long and unfortunate history of sexist commentary and journalism. The point I was making is about "casual" sexism, not the horribly offensive Ken Kessler "BWFH" misogyny. I should have been more clear about that, and apologies to
@pavuol for any confusion.
The comment (
#42) I was responding to had a picture of a very stylish Genelec setup with the text "Also, I can imagine its "higher" attractiveness for
female users, isnt't this cute?
".
@pavuol didn't say anything offensive, but the same point could have been made without stereotyping women.
For example, "Also, I can imagine its "higher" attractiveness for
people who value design, isnt't this cute?
". In this version we don't reinforce a stereotype about women, and we don't exclude men who might also like the look of that setup.
Is this important? Yes, I think it is, because if you replace "women" with other groups it becomes obvious that the group is being used as a shorthand for a characteristic. That's the very definition of stereotyping, and stereotypes are usually not true, and definitely not universal.
We all do it without meaning to. I know I do it too. But if we all just stop and ask ourselves "could I not use a stereotype here?", then we will help build a more objective and inclusive community.