Re: Sex,Gender,Etc.

[Lissa Story <lstory -at- INTERNET -dot- KRONOS -dot- COM>]

          I disagree with Steve Owen's comment that the current line
          of discourse is inappropriate for a tech writer's list.

          My reasons include:

               - Gender issues in writing are considered appropriate
                 topics for classes in my tech writing master's
                 program at Northeastern University. (If it it's good
                 enough for them, it's good enough for us. ;))

               - I've only been a tech writer for a year and I
                 occasionally wonder if my career change was a good
                 one. I was pleased to see that other writers had read
                 the same book I had (Deborah Tannen's "You Just Don't
                 Understand") and that they were interested in
                 discussing the issues the book raised.

               - I find this topic to be the most interesting since I
                 subscribed to the list several months ago.

          I also disagree with Steve's comment that there is not a
          causal relationship between the techiness of documentation
          and the number of women in the field.

          My reasons:

               - One thing I was taught in the gender discussions in
                 my classes is not to use language that leaves out
                 part of my audience. For example, sports analogies.
                 Exclusive language doesn't help your audience, and it
                 may alienate them. (Alienation contributes to fewer
                 women in the field.)

               - I'm a woman who is interested in reading about
                 computers and who is professionally involved with
                 computers. Yet I am regularly discouraged from
                 learning more about them and getting more involved in
                 the field by language that is too techie and too
                 sexist. (What does that say about members of an
                 audience that may be less motivated than I am?)

          Lissa Story
          lstory -at- internet -dot- kronos -dot- com