It would take me a huge mental effort to read "tech bros" as a discrimination based on gender - and I'm a man. They are talking about a few selected guys and decided to call them as tech bros - it's not calling for discrimination against men. No need to take it further, censor, ban.
(Note: I don't care if it's "tech bro" or "tech gal" - not everything is about indoctrination)
I don't think it should be censored here but it is a sexist term. It is never used in a positive way. The publishing industry is female dominated. Imagine that during the recent coverage of their attempts to censor old books, people referred the individuals responsible as "pub maids" or something like that. I don't think it would be quite as accepted.
And that's ok. I do not see what tangible effect this really has on anyone. They decided to use a negative term "bro", so what? Is it that bad? Is someone really taking a hit and feeling bad (besides for the sake of feeling bad under this "rigtheous" weather). I feel like there's more people being negatively affected by this word policing than really using such a word. I would be ok either way, tech bros, pub maids - I don't really look so much into words that it would really affect my thought - but that it wouldn't be accepted is not really indication of much. There are always loud voices that will feel upset by everything.
"Tech bro" isn't just a generic reference to tech founders. It refers to a particular negative stereotype of a person, usually male, who works in tech and subscribes to "bro culture." Bro culture itself usually comes from fraternity culture (as in "frat bro") and it's often associated with misogynist beliefs.
This is literally like saying "If refers to a particular negative stereotype of a person, usually from a poor neighbour hood, usually black, usually without a father" and ascribing any kind of prejudice to it. Is this seriously the kind of discussion you want to be having?
Right but “tech bro” is literally used to describe stereotype of a type of man in tech rather than all men in tech. Presumably female founders aren’t included in the same way non-bro male founders aren’t. In particular a tech bro doesn’t even have to be a founder.
But that removes the meaning of "bro". It should be "tech sibling". Of course, "bro" is short for "brother" so maybe the best solution would be "tech sib".
Lately, my response to calls to censor 'this one thing' is 'ban everything' and skip all the baby steps. At least then people will immediately realize what is actually bad about word prohibition.
It's in the title of the article. HN guidelines for comments presumably don't apply to articles. (It wouldn't be good for me to call another HNer a 'tech bro', but we can discuss an article that uses the phrase, no?)
In her lefthand (main thread article): Denigrates men interested in technology jobs which pay well and are intellectually arduous to even learn let alone practice.
In her righthand (article I link to above): Complains that women need more money for childcare.
Gee, it's almost as though left-leaning journalists are trying to drive men and women apart.
"Men, as a woman, I tell you: You're terrible! Now go fund women's lifestyles, we need your money!"
I don't want to weigh in on this debate in general, but just to clarify terminology: "Gay" is orthogonal to "cis". "Cis" is short for "cisgendered", meaning "not transgendered".
"Cishet" (cisgendered + heterosexual) is used to combine the two axes, which may be what led to the confusion.
We've banned this account for repeatedly posting flamewar comments and using HN primarily for ideological battle. Those things aren't what this site is for, and destroy what it is for. We ban accounts that do this (yes, regardless of which ideology you are battling for or against).
Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with.
I don't know the current usage, but historically this seems off. When these terms arose, they referred to programmers who relied on cliques, marketing and hype as opposed to great software engineering.
The "move fast and break things" types who shout down opposition because they always outnumber the diligent quiet types. Who have their memes, foosball, beanbags, etc. Who were successful in SV because they didn't give a damn. Who then used DEI as a shield to progress politically.
Who then set up crypto schemes under the "effective altruism" flag.
So no, gender or masculinity is not central to the term. Complete lack of morals and deception is.
Isn't "whore" more demonstrative of lack of morals, compared to "brother"?
It's a silly conversation-- Clearly "tech bro" is misandrist.
It enviously discounts men for success in technology, often while simultaneously expecting something from said men (such as emotional or financial support, again, while simultaneously insulting them... yeah, not productive).
Because the vast majority of programmers are men, hence we use men related adjectives/words. These things describe stereotypes, there is no "tech hoe" stereotype as far as I can tell
Same reason why in France we say "infirmieres" (feminine) to say nurse although the neutral should be "infirmiers" (masculine): because 85%+ nurses are women
> Clearly "tech bro" is misandrist.
Yet no one ever complained about it ever
American reading way to much into these gender stuff should be an Olympic sport
It is indeed a silly conversation, because you apply nitpicking and tangents to a term that refers to a culturally comprehensive concept that the reader is supposed to understand in context.
The term "bro" refers to the clique aspect, same as "fraternity" or "sorority". It could have been "tech sis", but the majority of tech bros were male, certainly at the time the term was coined.
Simpler answer that doesn’t require weird psychoanalysis: bro is used because of the perception (possibly reality?) of the ratio of men to women in tech.
I’ve notice an uptick in people getting into programming because it’s “a good job”.
As opposed to a few decades ago when my experience was more “I like computer and want to know how they work. Being payed for it is nice”
Not a judgement values. I just advise people who want a tech job that programming is tedious and frustrating. If you’r ok with that, everything is on the table really.
And I don’t mind working with new folks type
Is that like... denigrating a person based on their gender... ?