You want to discriminate men for no reason by treating them even worse than women were back then?
Wow, you're a faggot and you should kill yourself.
The wage gap is fake
Shave Balls
RIP BRAD
Women
Examples:
- Tends to be used in university CS groups
- Popular with Linux distros - Debian Women, FedoraWomen, Ubuntu Women, GnomeWomen, KDEWomen
- (GNOME) Outreach Program for Women
- Women in Drupal - formerly DrupalChix
- PHP Women
- WikiWomen
- Ruby Women
- Women Who Code
- Oceania Women of Open Tech (OWOOT)
Pros:
- Probably the most neutral term available now. Less polarizing than other terms.
- Very inclusive to adult women, especially ages 25-120
- Common on restroom signs
- Recommended in journalism by AP Stylebook
Cons:
- Doesn't rhyme with anything
- Younger women and teenagers don't necessarily associate themselves with the term
- Can feel overly formal and businesslike
Ladies
Examples:
Pros:
- Commonly reappropriated in hip-hop feminism, e.g. Ladies First by Queen Latifah. Has come back into vogue in recent years [2][3]
- Can be fun in a retro, ironic way, e.g. "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé
- Commonly used on restroom signs in some places, esp. multicultural urban areas
- More casual and playful than "women"
- Commonly used by college-aged women who might not identify with the term "woman" yet. Widely used by sororities. [3]
Cons:
- Offensive in some places and contexts [4]
- Can feel overly old-fashioned
- Can feel classist
- "Woman" preferred over "lady" in journalism. AP Stylebook says, "lady: Do not use as a synonym for women. Lady may be used when it is a courtesy title or when a specific reference to fine manners is appropriate without patronizing overtones." [5]
Female
Examples:
Pros:
Cons:
- Often considered disrespectful or demeaning in modern usage. [4]
- Often used by trans-excluding radical feminists to refer exclusively to cis women. Thus, some trans women will assume that they aren't welcome in a group with "females" in the name.
Girls
Examples:
- Black Girls Code (for girls)
- Go Girl, Go for IT (for girls)
- Girls' Programming Network (for girls)
- Girl Develop It
- Girl Geek Dinners
- Geek Girl Tech Conferences
- GeekGirlCon
- RailsGirls
- DjangoGirls
Pros:
- One syllable
Cons:
- Off-putting/infantilising to some women
- Can be confusing to actual intent of audience
Grrls
Examples:
- LinuxChix's grrls-only mailing list.
Pros:
- Rad 90s RiotGrrl zine vibe
Cons:
- Similar to 'girls', can be off-putting to women
Gals
Examples:
Pros:
- Casual, fun
Cons:
- Similar to 'girls', can be off-putting to women
- Trivialising? Depends on purpose of the group
Chicks/Chix
Examples:
- LinuxChix
- WikiChix
- CodeChix
- DevChix
- DrupalChix (changed to Women in Drupal)
Pros:
- Fun, casual, and light-hearted. Playful.
- Fun and empowering to reclaim the word.
- Common in women's tech group names. Easily identifiable as a fun technical women's group.
Cons:
- Pretty 90s.
- "Chicks" is a trivialising and somewhat sexualized term for women. So using it has the pros/cons of reclamation.
- Can be embarrassing or accidentally offensive to say aloud because it sounds like saying "chicks," e.g. sounds like saying, "Are you going to the Linux Chicks meetup?"
- If referred to by a man verbally, it can cause accidental insult, e.g. "You're a Dev Chick, right?"
Dolls
Examples:
Pros/Cons:
- Very informal
Sisters
Examples:
- Systers
- CSters (a university group)
Pros:
- Suggests a level of closeness that can be rare in an often hostile field.
Cons:
- Suggests a level of closeness that may be offputting for a casual group.
Feminist
Examples:
- Geek Feminism
- Feminist Frequency
Pros/Cons:
- Not all geek women are feminists
- Not all feminists are women -- you will need to figure out whether it's a group for women only or not
Divas
- Digital Divas (for girls)
Cons:
- Very exclusionary to women who are not traditionally feminine
Broads
Examples:
Pros/Cons:
Unicorns
From the unicorn law, ie, a woman geek is as rare/mythical as a unicorn.
Examples:
- The Haecksen miniconf doesn't use it as a name, but has made considerable use of unicorn logos.
Pros/Cons:
- Lends itself well to icons and graphics.
- The term is not well known outside the geek feminism community, and therefore can confuse or alienate people.
- Haecksen found that some men missed the irony and were encouraged to actually treat women like unicorns: ie, to photograph them and exclaim over a coveted "unicorn" sighting.
Mother/Mom
Examples:
Pros/Cons:
- Only a good idea if explicitly for mothers and that is relevant to the group
She/Her (female pronouns)
Examples:
- BlogHer
- She's Geeky
- She Hacks
Pros/Cons:
Miss/Ms/Mrs (female titles)
Examples:
- MzTek
- Miss Baltazar's Laboratory
Pros/Cons:
Abbreviation that uses one of the above terms
Examples:
- WoMoz, short for "Women & Mozilla"
Pro:
- If you can make a nice acronym it can work well
Con:
- Can be obscure
Name reference to a famous woman in the field
- Anita Borg Institute
- Grace Hopper Celebration
- Ada Initiative and AdaCamp
- Disreputable Order of Hopperites
- Edinburgh University Hoppers
Pros:
- Different
Cons:
- May be too obscure
- Can be a difficult choice between being named for a recognizable woman and being one of many organizations named for that woman!
Borrowing from other languages
Examples:
- Haecksen
- Foufem (based in a bilingual city)
Cons:
- Obscure, could be appropriative
No gender connotation at all
Examples:
- Seems to be popular with feminist hackerspaces - Double Union, Seattle Attic, Spanning Tree
- PyStar
- Code n Splode
Pros:
- Lots of flexibility
- Can avoid a connotation that your group intends to be the only women's group with your scope (as opposed to "ProjectName Women" or "CityName Feminist Hackerspace"
Cons:
- May need a nearly permanent subtitle
- Not obvious in a passing reference that women are the intended audience