To me, it's a curiosity, partly because I'm a gay guy and partly because sexual orientation isn't something that's outwardly obvious. The anonymity of an internet poll is the perfect place to find out.
I know we could poll the hell out of the community and drill down to all kinds of details, but the one thing I've never, ever heard anybody discuss is the distribution of sexual orientations in tech, or at least as is represented by the HN userbase.
It's actually interesting to hear that you're serious. After the backlash against the gender poll I instinctively thought your poll was snark directed at the original poll e.g. "You think asking your gender is intrusive? Well how about I ask about your sexual orientation?"
Ok, their preference for being called something other than male/female aside, what does it mean? They're hermaphrodites or transexuals who have breasts & penis?
Yes, sometimes it means people who have both sets of organs. Or people who take hormones but do not want surgery. Or a bunch of other stuff.
Who decides if I'm a woman?
A spat between feminist Suzanne Moore and transgender rights activists played out on social networking sites, and then hit the headlines when journalist Julie Burchill joined in too.
Jo Fidgen explores the underlying ideas which cause so much tension between radical feminists and transgender campaigners, and discovers why recent changes in the law and advances in science are fuelling debate.
This isn't just looking at sexual orientation, but gender identity and sexual orientation. Just asking about sexual orientation would be something like: Choose which of the following best represents you: Homosexual, Heterosexual, Bisexual, Other.
It's better to have too much detail than too little. At least it's trivial to strip away data if you want, but we can't add it back in if it wasn't there to begin with.
Also, it seems that sexual orientation has different spreads across genders (judging by other studies), which is why I added in gender.
Female, technically more pansexual but I happily take part in the bisexual community in the UK [1]
Fun fact: I personally found it helped me to be queer when you're a woman in IT. I've generally found creepy guy control much easier by being A. butch, and B. generally stating I'm not interested in guys [2]. I was able to handle awkward interview questions along the lines of "But you're a GIRL" [3] by claiming to be "one of the boys". This doesn't mean that all of this wasn't a painful compromise, and I know I was ultimately confirming to heteronormativity rather than smashing it. But we do what we must, not because we can, but to survive.
I'm currently working on getting an LGBT+ organisation started in the office. If you have any experience of running one, or are generally LGBT+ in the UK, feel free to get in touch :)
[1] http://www.bicon.org.uk/
[2] 80/20 in favour of women, to briefly adhere to a binary system
[3] Actual interview question. And people wonder why I'm a feminist hacker....
When is the race/ethnicity poll?
Right after religion and political leaning.
Poll: At what age did you lose your virginity?
I would reply "When I first used emacs." just to get an upvote from RMS.
To me, it's a curiosity, partly because I'm a gay guy and partly because sexual orientation isn't something that's outwardly obvious. The anonymity of an internet poll is the perfect place to find out.
I know we could poll the hell out of the community and drill down to all kinds of details, but the one thing I've never, ever heard anybody discuss is the distribution of sexual orientations in tech, or at least as is represented by the HN userbase.
It's actually interesting to hear that you're serious. After the backlash against the gender poll I instinctively thought your poll was snark directed at the original poll e.g. "You think asking your gender is intrusive? Well how about I ask about your sexual orientation?"
Not at all! It's just something that's never been discussed and I wanted to know how "alone" I am in terms of sexual orientation in the tech industry!
that is true, i also wonder about this. thanks for making the poll.
Unknown?
Some people don't know, or are asexual.
Asexuality isn't 'unknown'. It should be its own category.
Missing options:
Other - Gay
Other - Bisexual
Other - Straight
Other - Unknown
Thank you, I've added them.
What does Other - Gay mean? That you are attracted to people of the same Other orientation or just same sex?
Maybe this makes me a terrible person, but "other" tells us nothing and seems to completely dodge the question.
Except that some of other stripe prefer "other" to having to choose between male and female, and it respects them to provide that option.
Ok, their preference for being called something other than male/female aside, what does it mean? They're hermaphrodites or transexuals who have breasts & penis?
Yes, sometimes it means people who have both sets of organs. Or people who take hormones but do not want surgery. Or a bunch of other stuff.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rbrtd)
am i the only one who thinks that if we expand this poll with availability and location info, we might just end up with an mvp for a dating site?
hahahaha i just spilled my coffee after reading that, screw you!
it would be just like every other dating site: 3 women, 126 men.
Male/Female only? You should at least include queer I guess as a catch all for other sexualities as well.
I have now; I included "other". Sorry I didn't include it at first -- I should have known better!
GREAT initiative! Thanks!
There really should be an Other - Other option
This isn't just looking at sexual orientation, but gender identity and sexual orientation. Just asking about sexual orientation would be something like: Choose which of the following best represents you: Homosexual, Heterosexual, Bisexual, Other.
It's better to have too much detail than too little. At least it's trivial to strip away data if you want, but we can't add it back in if it wasn't there to begin with.
Also, it seems that sexual orientation has different spreads across genders (judging by other studies), which is why I added in gender.
No, it's looking at sex, not gender.
I'm pansexual but will go ahead and identify as bi for the purposes of this highly scientific experiment.
Female, technically more pansexual but I happily take part in the bisexual community in the UK [1]
Fun fact: I personally found it helped me to be queer when you're a woman in IT. I've generally found creepy guy control much easier by being A. butch, and B. generally stating I'm not interested in guys [2]. I was able to handle awkward interview questions along the lines of "But you're a GIRL" [3] by claiming to be "one of the boys". This doesn't mean that all of this wasn't a painful compromise, and I know I was ultimately confirming to heteronormativity rather than smashing it. But we do what we must, not because we can, but to survive.
I'm currently working on getting an LGBT+ organisation started in the office. If you have any experience of running one, or are generally LGBT+ in the UK, feel free to get in touch :)
[1] http://www.bicon.org.uk/ [2] 80/20 in favour of women, to briefly adhere to a binary system [3] Actual interview question. And people wonder why I'm a feminist hacker....
I had never heard the word 'pansexual' before this :) TIL..
Other - Asexual-aromantic-megalomaniac. :)