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by derefr 3665 days ago
> This is othering for anyone who is not a heterosexual man

Except, you know, for bisexual men and women, lesbians, heterosexual trans-men, and so on. A lot of people could theoretically bond with one-another over a shared attraction to a given gender. (Not making any point to the spirit of your argument; just poking at the letter of it in hope that you refine it.)
1 comments
startling 3665 days ago
> A lot of people could theoretically bond with one-another over a shared attraction to a given gender.

OK? That's not what's happening here.

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derefr 3665 days ago
The point you were making wasn't about what was or wasn't happening here, though; it was about what such statements "usually [serve to do] ... in geek contexts." Geek contexts involve a lot of the types of people I mentioned. (For example, according to a recent survey of LessWrong members, there are actually more transwomen than ciswomen in that community.)
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startling 3665 days ago
The full quote:

> In geek contexts, they are usually a way for heterosexual men to bond over their common attraction to women. This is othering for anyone who is not a heterosexual man, including, obviously, women, and contributes to their invisibility in the field.

There's nothing here suggesting that that shared sexuality can't be used as a bonding mechanism among other groups. Just that in "geek contexts" it's usually intended as a bonding mechanism between straight men, and that this is othering to people who aren't straight men.

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