Every time I see one of these threads, I'm unable to understand responses such as yours.
Whether he's referring to his girlfriend or women in general, he's perpetuating a stereotype. This has less to do with sexism, and more to do with offensive stereotyping. You could replace the girlfriend example with anything from this page (first link i found) - http://examples.yourdictionary.com/stereotype-examples.html - and it's equally wrong.
He's doing it as a representative of his company, and so Atlassian needs to acknowledge that it's wrong, and they're going to do something about it. An employee made a mistake in a public forum - simple as that.
>The definition of a stereotype is any commonly known public belief about a certain social group or a type of individual.
That definition kind of contradicts your point. He wasn't referring to women in general (certain social group) or to girlfriends in general (type of individuals). He was referring to his girlfriend. For you to accuse him of perpetuating a stereotype, you would have to claim that his girlfriend represents all women or all girlfriends (which is sexist).
>Whether he's referring to his girlfriend or women in general, he's perpetuating a stereotype.
it is you who perpetuates the stereotype by forcefully projecting/extending his reference to his girlfriend onto women in general.
Your brain is the exact place where the generalization from his girlfriend to all women happened, and you hold him responsible for that action of your brain.
Yes, but there is a subtext there. However, I don't totally disagree with you. It was bad taste, unneccessary, and childish but not exactly Douglas Sterling.
Whether he's referring to his girlfriend or women in general, he's perpetuating a stereotype. This has less to do with sexism, and more to do with offensive stereotyping. You could replace the girlfriend example with anything from this page (first link i found) - http://examples.yourdictionary.com/stereotype-examples.html - and it's equally wrong.
He's doing it as a representative of his company, and so Atlassian needs to acknowledge that it's wrong, and they're going to do something about it. An employee made a mistake in a public forum - simple as that.