Just don't do it | Hacker News Reader

Just don't do it

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5 pointshyperpape4 comments

This article is absurd.

> No one writes articles telling men how they’re damaging their career prospects by using the wrong words.

Be real. There are whole books devoted to this topic. And there are whole sections in bookstores devoted to such books. There are magazines that have been talking about these things in every single issue for decades.

"How to change your behavior to get ahead in business" is an enormous business. And historically it has catered mostly to men. It tells them how to dress, who to meet, how to talk, etc., etc.

Maybe the author needs to read a few business books?

This seems guilty of a willful misreading. It's true that there are business books that tell men they are doing x wrong. But the comparison is with other men who are doing it right. Whereas the type of article this piece highlights is telling women that they are doing it wrong by not being like men.

> Even in the 1990s the flaw in this reasoning was obvious. Men’s greater success in the workplace is largely a product of their privileged status as men: just imitating their behaviour won’t give women their status. Yet here we are in the second decade of the 21st century, recycling the same old advice.

Imitating their behavior won't give women their status, but not imitating their behavior might prevent women from obtaining that status.

Applying the obligatory car analogy, to drive somewhere you have to both release the brake and press the accelerator. Adopting speech patterns of the group you wish to join goes toward releasing the brake.

You're right that this is a possibility, and it's probably true in some cases. But there's also research that shows that women in the workplace often act less aggressive than men because they have a justified belief that if they didn't, they'd be viewed negatively and it would work out to their disadvantage.

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