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by evincarofautumn 4080 days ago
You’re not wrong, but we’re arguing about different things, and I’m not sure how I can make myself clear.

I think they didn’t mean to equate programming skill and masculinity. I also think they should be more sensitive in how they speak. I also think it’s dishonest to ignore the fact that one can be true without the other.

Furthermore, “manly man” is a wacky satirical caricature of “real man”, a problematic stereotype. “Negro” is just a problematic stereotype. I think we should find a better comparison, but one doesn’t come to mind.

1 comments

Actually, I think you've hit on something important: you're saying "manly man" is wacky and humorous, but "negro" is problematic. The only difference here and now is how it's no longer acceptable, at all, to play on race stereotypes, not like it was 50 years ago.

Times change, and we can either keep up, or we can let ourselves becomes relics from an earlier era.

“Negro” was never humorous, as far as I know—it was just the name for a black person, or more accurately “a black”, through the lens of the culture at the time that dehumanised them by identifying them solely with their skin colour. However, I do see your point and I agree that it’s important to change with the times and adapt our language to the new, and hopefully more enlightened, cultural and historical context.