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9 Comments

The Language You Use Matters and Makes a Difference

Over the years I've become more aware of the need to be diverse and more inclusive in our actions. I didn't give it much consideration earlier in my career despite the obvious discrimination I faced.

These days I know many people are increasingly put off my gender/male focused language and assumptions. This can be more apparent in the tech world.

It's challenging because these are habits and bias we have all built up over the years. I still catch myself out a lot using the wrong words, thoughts or ideas.

But I'm trying, and I'd love it if indie hackers here to perhaps give it a shot.

For example - instead of using:
• 'sales guy' to refer to sales people in general, consider using 'sales person'
• 'hey guys' - use 'hey everyone', 'hey folks', 'hey indie hackers', 'hey people'...

To get you started, there's a useful list of gender neutral terms that can used here:
http://stjerneskinn.com/gender-neutral-words.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_language

I love IH and I think this can only improve the community. This is not about entering into a debate or calling people out. It's about making this place more inclusive and friendly to everyone.

#fyi

  1. 6

    FWIW, more than one female marketer/coach I follow on YT whose audience is over 85% women regularly opens her videos with, "Hey, guys!".

    Is it possible you're applying your own dialect/diction broadly onto other regional speakers? I'm all for valuing everyone equally and being inclusive. Not sure about this word, though.

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    I think it's wonderful that y'all are mindful of this and trying to move forward with it! I've encountered the term "gender inclusive" which to me somehow better conveys "we LIKE gender diversity".

    I've also found East Bay Meditation Center's agreements for multicultural interactions to be a very good starting point for thinking about how to foster trust and inclusion.

    This is so cool! I've only just joined the IH community, and it's really encouraging to see this post from IH leadership (I think? still new, not sure if that's actually one of your roles or not :) as a person of color who cares deeply about issues of inclusion and equity, this definitely helps make me feel welcome :)

  3. 1

    Hey everyone could a sales person give me some feedback about my website? Would you market it differently? https://wishpage.tv/

  4. 1

    Been using "Y'all" recently for this exact reason.

    This isn't just a IH thing, more of a conversation about it and we'll get there eventually.

    1. 1

      Yes, exactly, definitely not a specific thing to IH, but important to raise it and make little conscious efforts to improve.

  5. 1

    Great point @rosiesherry!

    Maybe you guys could think about adding helpful prompts for certain keywords (like "hey guys") when creating posts? Like you already do for posts of a certain length, without including a question etc...

    Are you, @csallen and team working on anything to try and attract more female IHers to the site, btw?

    It seems like a great opportunity because, although tech/startups do skew heavily male, there have always been a lot of female entrepreneurs working on side hustles and small businesses. It'd be nice to have more of them on here too :)

    ---

    BTW I know "hey guys" isn't gender neutral but I really, really wish it were 🤦

    I catch myself using it all the time (even for greeting all-female groups of friends) and it just 'sounds' so right!

    1. 1

      Can't believe you are using 'hey guys'! Lol. Sorry! It's funny how it sounds so right to you, but not to others. I do think it is the hardest one to move away from, like you say, I still see it a lot in women only groups too.

      We're working on little changes atm on IH to encourage more people to participate and make it feel less male dominated. A big part of it is needing to have more diversity in those who participate. Having more women would be a great start, but should not be limited to that, there are PoC, LQTBG, etc.

      I'm personally trying to ensure that we seek diversity in who we invite for AMAs and Office Hours.

      I'm also trying to find people from a more diverse background doing indie hacking type things as they have a tendency to not shout about what they do as much as the typical 'white male'.

      Still early days yet, I'm trying and would love the support and recommendations!

      (Note: I wrote this, then had to edit it to remove my own bias. I'm learning too.)

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        It's funny how it sounds so right to you, but not to others.

        Yes, definitely!

        I'm kinda being silly and I don't really mind that I shouldn't say "hey guys"... but it is possible that "hey guys" becomes accepted as gender neutral sooner rather than later...

        After all, "girl" used to be gender neutral (meaning "male or female child") until about the 16th century, when it took on the current, gendered meaning. So there's hope yet!

        I'm also trying to find people from a more diverse background doing indie hacking type things as they have a tendency to not shout about what they do as much as the typical 'white male'.

        That's great!

        You might want to reach out to...

        They're all awesome indie hackers who don't fall into the 'white male' category (afaik)!

        1. 3

          Super late to this convo. Thanks for the shout @louisswiss. I, too, find myself saying 'hey guys.' I don't mind being on the receiving end of that though, but I try to avoid using it in greetings. I usually say 'Hey, everyone!' or, with my newsletter, 'Hey, family!'

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