[UbuntuWomen] on names, language and a request for advice

[James Westby]

On Tue, 2008-02-19 at 13:20 -0500, Emma Jane Hogbin wrote:
> I have a bit of a dilemma that I'd like advice on... (a variation of
> this was also posted on my personal blog www.emmajane.net)

Hi Emma,

Thanks for bringing the issue to out attention.

> Once she was settled on how to tackle her problem I asked, "So now that
> I've done you a favour with the instructions... can I ask for a favour?
> Your nick... I really do think it doesn't help to give women in FOSS
> positive language/role models/etc." And with that she changed her name
> and was using her revised name today when I logged into #ubuntu-women. I
> am delighted beyond words that such a simple action on my part created
> the change that I wanted to see.

Great work :)


> And now for the questions:
> (1) do you think derogatory names impact our perception of that group?

Yes.

It has been said that the name was self-referential, so it wasn't
insulting to women, just to herself, so it was her own problem.

I'm not happy with that answer, as I think that some people will
take this as legitimising their opinions, and it is just one
more brick in the wall.

How many times have you tried to deal with a gender issue, or
indeed any discrimination issue it seems, without someone saying
something like, "well, my girlfriend happily labels herself that,"
using a single counterexample to legitimise their argument?

In my opinion that's only one step above, "some of my best friends
are black/asian/muslim/women."

> (2) do you think names like "stupidgirl" should be permitted?

Yes, in that I don't think that there should be an outright ban
on stupid*, or indeed a more targeted ban on names like this.

However, it would be great if whenever a woman decided to use
this name someone would do what you did.

> (3) how can we create a positive space (for women) without censoring people?

Ummm, yeah, I'll come back to that one :)

> (4) how would you have addressed the problem with the #ubuntu-ops
> channel so they understood my concern (clearly I was not effective,
> pointers are appreciated)?

With the benefit of hindsight you could have first asked what the policy
was on banning of nicknames on princple, rather that as a result of 
user actions, before bringing up the specific example. The extra
time in which you engaged with them may have helped, however they
seemed to close off so quickly that it may not have.

> (5) are there further actions that I should take (including addressing
> the issue directly with the IRC Council)?

I want to be very careful to avoid being prescriptive here. I think
you could raise a case with the IRC Council, and failing that (as many
of the people involved probably sit on that council), the Community
Council.

However, I think you would have to make it clear that you are not asking
for punishment of those involved. It should not be about retribution,
but about education. Doing that would hopefully reduce the tendency for
the group to club together to protect it's members. You would have to
decide what it was that you wanted though, a hearing, an apology, some
discussion of how to proceed in the future?

I think it would give you a good forum in which to state your
problem with the behaviour in a calm and measured manner, with
an elevated platform from which to speak, hopefully increasing the
chance that you would be listened to. However, I'm sure that if you
choose to do this it will not be entirely comfortable for you.

I hope that the dialogue with those involved that has apparently
arisen from this incident will achieve your aims without having
to resort to this.

Please proceed in whatever way you see fit, I have no real idea what
I am talking about, so there is a high probability I am completely
wrong.

Thanks again,

James

P.S. I have been referring to you as Emma, but do you prefer Emma Jane?
I am never sure what to do when someone provides two non-family names.
It gets even harder for me when they are hyphenated though.