>If a ripped 6'4" male model called himself @sexyengineer and posted pictures of him building things shirtless, I would roll my eyes and call his legitimacy into question.
I was considering posting a comment along the lines of this. I decided not to, because I am somewhat terrified of discussing these topics in public, even behind the anonymity of an HN handle. There needs to be a way to talk about these things without people demonizing you for having a discussion. No, sexuality may not have anything to do with 'legitimacy', but I would think the same thing that the quoted parents said (re: the sexy male engineer). Why is that? I'm not sure. Certainly, you have the right to portray yourself in any light you see fit. But since engineering skill and sexuality have nothing to do with eachother, as we all agree afaict, then I don't see how its wrong to be skeptical when the two are presented together.
edit: to clarify, as Bunnie mentioned in his post, its often both more comfortable and completely appropriate to sit half-naked at your desk coding. But the next time Bunnie turns to social media to talk about something he's done, I don't expect to see a picture of him in his underwear next to the product.
> "I am somewhat terrified of discussing these topics in public, even behind the anonymity of an HN handle"
Thank you for facing your fears.
> "Why is that? I'm not sure. Certainly, you have the right to portray yourself in any light you see fit. But since engineering skill and sexuality have nothing to do with eachother, as we all agree afaict, then I don't see how its wrong to be skeptical when the two are presented together."
Let's be real, attractiveness doesn't hurt YouTube view counts. However, does the fact that not all of those views were motivated by the content being discussed call into question the validity of the content itself? In other words, if someone clicked on a SexyCyborg video because they found her attractive, but ended up enjoying the technical content, was the content effective?
What I'd be cautious of is promoting the idea that dressing a certain way was the only way to get ahead, but as long as people can get ahead based on their own effort, it doesn't seem like much of a problem. Clearly you think differently, and I would be interested in better understanding your point of view.
> "edit: to clarify, as Bunnie mentioned in his post, its often both more comfortable and completely appropriate to sit half-naked at your desk coding. But the next time Bunnie turns to social media to talk about something he's done, I don't expect to see a picture of him in his underwear next to the product."
It would be surprising, sure, but fundamentally I don't see what would be wrong about it.
To give a counter example, there's a high level player in the Street Fighter community called Poongko who's infamous for taking off his shirt whilst playing:
I'm not suggesting that this is an exact mirror for what we're talking about, as the context isn't sexual. The point I'm trying to make is that, even if a behaviour is unusual, it doesn't have to have negative connotations.
I was considering posting a comment along the lines of this. I decided not to, because I am somewhat terrified of discussing these topics in public, even behind the anonymity of an HN handle. There needs to be a way to talk about these things without people demonizing you for having a discussion. No, sexuality may not have anything to do with 'legitimacy', but I would think the same thing that the quoted parents said (re: the sexy male engineer). Why is that? I'm not sure. Certainly, you have the right to portray yourself in any light you see fit. But since engineering skill and sexuality have nothing to do with eachother, as we all agree afaict, then I don't see how its wrong to be skeptical when the two are presented together.
edit: to clarify, as Bunnie mentioned in his post, its often both more comfortable and completely appropriate to sit half-naked at your desk coding. But the next time Bunnie turns to social media to talk about something he's done, I don't expect to see a picture of him in his underwear next to the product.