Male Programmer Privilege Checklist

The Male Programmer Privilege Checklist

Being male (or perceived to be male) as a programmer, means:

Othering

See also: Othering

• Not having to explain why the term "gentlemen" doesn't include you.
• Never being the special case ("hi guys and girls, I guess, too, if you want to get really technical about it!!")
• Not having to wonder whether you're well-known in your community simply for being "the female one".
• The expectation that if you say you are a programmer, people will believe you.
• Never being described as a "hot guy" first and a competent professional second.
• The freedom to watch a technical talk without being explicitly reminded that many of your colleagues see you primarily as a sex object. (See also: Sexualized environment.)
• Joining in appreciation of the sex object du jour without having to be gay or bisexual.
• The freedom to do your job without anyone insinuating that you only got hired because of affirmative action or "quotas", or because of the anatomy you happen to possess. (See also: Tokenism.)
• The freedom to attend a technical talk without anyone assuming that you're only there because your boyfriend dragged you along with him.
• Never being asked whether you got lost upon entering a computer science classroom.
• The ability to listen to speakers refer to an inanimate software construct as "this guy" without feeling othered and getting distracted from the content of the talk.
• The freedom to laugh at jokey photos of women holding bumper stickers about closures because they're as funny to you as pictures of cats "reading" calculus books, rather than wondering whether your colleagues see you in the same way as those women.
• The freedom to listen to speakers say that software should be so easy to use that even your mom could use it without wondering whether they have you in mind.
• The freedom to listen to speakers say that instant messaging isn't just for teenage girls talking about the Backstreet Boys without wondering whether they have you-ten-years-ago in mind.
• The freedom to listen to speakers use gender fields in database schemata as an example of an attribute that never changes and only has two possible values without having to sit on your hands.
• Knowing that if you attend a professional conference, there will be a restroom you can use. (See also: Restroom.)
• Getting invited to play video games with your colleagues, because they haven't assumed you won't be interested because of your gender.
• Having colleagues who close the door when they talk to you.
• Not having to think about what gender you are.

Double standards and double binds

• The freedom to tell someone to RTFM without ever being accused of PMS.
• The freedom to make mistakes or say stupid things without worrying about it getting added to the pile of "why women suck at computer stuff". This point is also illustrated by the "you suck at math" xkcd comic entitled "How it works."
• Being praised for the content of your writing rather than the neatness of your handwriting.
• Being appreciated as a competent professional rather than as an instrument for calming down troublesome people or manipulating disagreeable ones.
• Never having anyone suggest that you slept your way into getting a bug fixed.
• Having potential romantic partners assume from your career that you're smart and well-to-do rather than unattractive and unfeeling.
• If you're married, having people take you to lunch without them speculating on how your spouse would feel about them taking you to lunch.
• Having interests that are stereotypical for your gender without having to worry you'll be taken less seriously because of it.
• Having interests that are unstereotypical for your gender and getting seen as cool and progressive rather than freaky and asexual for it.
• Being treated like a hero if you compromise on work for childcare responsibilities, rather than having your commitment to work questioned.
• Not having to choose between dressing/acting stereotypically for your gender and being thought unprofessional (or not a Real Geek) for it, and dressing/acting un-stereotypically and being thought unseemly.
• The right to organize professional or educational events that are a safe space for members of your gender and in which members of other genders are unwelcome, without being criticized by members of a different gender for being "sexist" or "exclusionary". (This works because you enjoy the privilege of being able to enforce the single-sexedness of a particular event or space without ever having to say so explicitly, thus granting yourself immunity from criticism.)
• The freedom to mention your gender online without worrying that if you do, and you then experience gender discrimination, others will tell you that it's your fault for mentioning your gender.
• The freedom to not mention your gender online while knowing that even if your accomplishments never get stacked up as "worthwhile things male programmers have done", male programmers' reputation will be safe anyhow.
• The freedom to switch to a less technical career without feeling like you're betraying the cause of gender equality.

Employment

• The freedom to apply for a job at your partner's workplace without worrying that others will think you only got the job because of your partner.
• The ability to have your desk near the entrance to your office without visitors assuming you're the receptionist.
• Never being asked by a job interviewer whether you would mind being the first male employee in the company.
• The freedom to attend job fairs without having anyone suggest you look for secretarial work instead.

Personal safety

See also: Rape culture

• The freedom to attend a technical conference without fear of sexual assault.
• The freedom to walk home unafraid after a late-night coding spree.
• Freedom from fear that your open-source work will make you a target for death threats (note: linked-to post discusses sexual assault and violent threats against women).

Innocence

• Enjoying the blissful illusion that computer science or the IT industry are pure meritocracies where gender never matters.
• The freedom to discuss the role of gender in programming without people thinking you're being (a) self-serving, (b) whiny, (c) bringing politics into realms where it's not relevant, or (d) all of the above.
• The privilege of being able to deny the existence of your own privilege as a male programmer.

About

The original version of the list was by Kake, inspired by a post on the London Perlmongers mailing list. A number of other privilege checklists also served as inspiration.

From 2006-2011, the master version of this list was maintained by Tim Chevalier.