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by sixothree 2379 days ago
I have a random observation about the comments sections of the types of videos she makes. In videos that feature female makers, commenters seem to address them by first name far more often than happens in the male maker videos. I am not sure why it bothers me but it feels off.
3 comments

You're right, and it's not just youtube comments. There was a large study at Cornell last year; it generalizes to society at large, and has detrimental effects for women [1].

[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180702145605.h...

Isn't that a good thing, since they're getting more recognition (people learning their first name), or am I missing something more subtle here?
I had a female CS professor who noticed (and disliked) that students were a lot more likely to use her first name while calling male professors Dr. Whatever.

A lot of men) tend to perceive women as warmer, more nurturing, more approachable than their male counterparts; their approach to them is less formal, less respectful, more chummy. There are situations where that approach is appropriate, but the tendency to use it with every professional woman you meet is a problem.

I always thought it happens because we tend to use the identifier that is the most unique. We had a CS professor (male) who had an unusual first name, everyone referred to him by using the first name. Obviously not in a formal way but when we discussed him.

Because women tend to be less numerous in CS and similar engineering professions, their name tends to be more unique than male counterparts. I know it's anecdotal but it seems to line up with my school years where depending on whether your first name or last name were often we fell back on one other other. A girl with a common first name was called by her last name, while a guy with common last name was called by his first name.

Few examples in popular culture: Hillary, Bernie (relatively unusual first name), Trump, Warren (I think no one calls you just Elizabeth, her first and last name are relatively generic so usually people use both)

In Formula 1: Lewis, Alonso, Vettel, Max (or Verstappen), Lando.

It seems mixed.

Ahh, interesting insight. I hadn't considered that case before, but in that context it makes sense.

I'd definitely be annoyed if I was a professor/doctor and strangers were being overly familiar with me.

IME, that reflects (at least American) society in general, where males are referred to by their last names among friends much more often than females.
It also depends on the last name. Short last names will be used more than long ones, male or female. Funny last names more than non-funny ones.
Did you vote for Donald or Hillary?
Bernie or Warren ?
It goes back to coaches using last names in sports practices. This probably is changing as there is more gender balance in youth sports.
In the case of male Youtube makers, I find lack of any name whatsoever is more likely the case.