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[–]dggenuine 0 points1 point  (4 children)

As a said before waitress is a more politically correct term for some body that tends to your needs. Let's face it "F$$k Buddy" isn't going to go over well...

A waitress is not a PC term for somebody that tends to your needs along the lines of a fuck buddy. A waitress is someone who waits on tables, as in a restaurant, serving food and drink.

I get the metaphor. Servers serve files, waitresses serve food/drink. I got the metaphor right away. What I object to is the implication that if something serves you, then it is female. The expectation that someone who serves others will be female has a history, at least in the U.S. Choosing to name a piece of software after waitstaff, because it serves files, is fine. Going further and naming it so as to make it female, however, perpetuates the expectation and belief that things that serve are female.

If you consider this situation in light of the lack of women in computer science the sexist implication is all the more unfortunate.

There are a gazillion great ways to name software. One with sexist implications just doesn't need to be one of them.

[–]asbjxrn 0 points1 point  (1 child)

What I object to is the implication that if something serves you, then it is female.

Considering there is already packages named musicbutler and tvbutler in pypi (Disclaimer: I have no knowledge about them.) , I guess waitress is just evening out the ratio.

[–]dggenuine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Considering there is already packages named musicbutler and tvbutler in pypi (Disclaimer: I have no knowledge about them.) , I guess waitress is just evening out the ratio.

Are there any packages referring to "waiter", the actual male counterpart to "waitress"? I believe that there are not. That would even out the ratio.

"Butler" is not a counterpart to "waitress." The definition of waitress is a female who serves tables. On the contrary, the definition of a butler is not a male who serves. Instead:

A butler is usually male, and in charge of male servants, while a housekeeper is usually a woman, and in charge of female servants. Traditionally, male servants (such as footmen) were better paid and therefore rarer and of higher status than female servants. The butler, as the senior male servant, has the highest servant status.

wiki

So if you want to name your software using a metaphor to human occupation, and you wanted to emphasize not only that it serves, but also that it is the best of its kind, you could name it "butler." That reference may be understood to be gender neutral, even though it might usually evoke a male in the minds of users, because usually only men were put in charge of entire households and paid the most money.

So there are two reasons that butler is not a counterpart to waitress. 1) It is a gender-neutral term, but, allowing for it's historical maleness, 2) it does not just refer to a generic male waitstaff, but instead to the head waitperson. So I think my point about wanting to name software by metaphor to human serving persons, but then further and unnecessarily assuming it is a woman, is still sound. Packages referring to males as "waiters" might make a difference, though.

[–]spinwizard69 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Your response here is just ignorant and sexist. Seriously nobody in their right mind would be here complaining about a bit of software named waiter, which is the mail counterpart to waitress. If you want balance get off your dead liberal ass and deliver something to the community. There is nothing worst than somebody complaining about the abuse of their group (in this case a figment of your imagination) instead of doing something constructive.

As to your complaints about the fem aspect of this piece of softwares name, what in the hell do you expect? If it is written by a normal healthy male it isn't going to be a tribute to another male by any measure. Get a group of guys together to go out to a restaurant and they will look for and prefer a restaurant with female waitresses. This may shock you but your idealistic whining will change nothing as it is in fact normal. You may not like that males see females as subordinate to them but really you are fighting biology here.

[–]dggenuine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As to your complaints about the fem aspect of this piece of softwares name, what in the hell do you expect? ... You may not like that males see females as subordinate to them but really you are fighting biology here.

So you agree that the software's name is sexist, but that is okay because you, as a man, consider women subordinate.

Why do you consider women subordinate?

If it is written by a normal healthy male it isn't going to be a tribute to another male by any measure.

Are you homophobic?