Bug#774837: developers-reference: avoid using gender binary in advice to be gender neutral
Package: developers-reference
Version: 3.4.12
Severity: normal
Tags: patch
Hi,
section 6.5.2.6. is titled "be gender neutral" and also explicitly
advises to "use gender-neutral constructions in your writing" but in the
same line says "The world is made of men and women". This is not being
gender neutral as the world is not only made of men and women.
The attached patch tries to solve this problem by turning "The world is
made of men and women." into "The world is not only made of men and
women." and appending the part from the README-contrib which explains
that the singular they should be used as the gender of the subject is
unknown.
Thanks!
cheers, josch
>From 2e45a909750f76caee69e3ff79a8601cfef1ea8b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: josch <j.schauer@email.de>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2015 10:53:36 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] avoid using gender binary in advice to be gender neutral
---
best-pkging-practices.dbk | 8 ++++++--
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/best-pkging-practices.dbk b/best-pkging-practices.dbk
index 1651ddb..8728f49 100644
--- a/best-pkging-practices.dbk
+++ b/best-pkging-practices.dbk
@@ -917,8 +917,12 @@ still possible, like <emphasis>Enable this if ...</emphasis> instead of <emphasi
<section id="s6.5.2.6">
<title>Be gender neutral</title>
<para>
-The world is made of men and women. Please use gender-neutral constructions in
-your writing.
+The world is not only made of men and women. Please use gender-neutral
+constructions in your writing. This means avoiding pronouns like he/she when
+referring to a role (like "maintainer") whose gender is unknown. Instead of you
+should use the plural form
+(<ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they";>singular they</ulink>).
+
</para>
</section>
--
2.0.1
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