{"id":373,"date":"2022-12-30T15:45:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T14:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/?p=373"},"modified":"2022-12-30T18:47:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T17:47:26","slug":"gendered-connectors-in-electronics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/2022\/12\/gendered-connectors-in-electronics\/","title":{"rendered":"Gendered Connectors in Electronics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Using the male\/female terminology for connectors seems to be the industry standard. In the past I have never questioned this. Its just how things are and how I learned to work with them.<br>In one of my recent KiCad-Workshops I talked to people that would like to get rid of those words. There are a few issues with using the sex-analogy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Its not always clear what exactly is male. Quite a few connectors that are \u201cinserted\u201d are considered female. There are also female connectors that have protruding pins<sup><a href=\"#footnotes\">[1]<\/a><\/sup>.<\/li><li>The language is non inclusive<\/li><li>Not all vendors use the same terminology<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There has been some movement in the industry to address this problem. One example is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pamalliance.org\/s\/PAMA-Recommendations-for-Neutral-Nomenclature-in-Pro-Audio.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PAMA Recommendations for Neutral Nomenclature in Pro Audio<\/a> from the <em>Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance<\/em> (PAMA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposed solution is to replace male\/female with plug\/socket, or pin\/receptacle depending on the actual connector.<br>This is quite clever, since it solve the ambiguity of male what means: \u2018will be inserted\u2019 vs. \u2018does have pins\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no good reason why we, as an open-source community, should not improve our naming. On the contrary, we are not bound by weird corporate rules, but have the ability and freedom to be a leader of change. Both in the technical and inclusion aspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So lets do some research next, to see if and how we can untangle this Goardian knot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"D-Subminiature-connectors\">D-Subminiature connectors<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>There are way to many different connectors out there to research them all. So I decided to start with the D-Sub type since they are well known and lots of manufacturers make them. Also there are standard documents describing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Vendors\">Vendors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When looking at how vendors name their connectors, there is not a single truth<sup><a href=\"#footnotes\">[2]<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/039d4977-2bd5-44d3-b21f-cbf015113b91.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><br>A \u201cmale\u201d<sup><a href=\"#foot\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#foot\">[3]<\/a><\/sup> D-Subminiature DE-9<sup><a href=\"#footnotes\">[4]<\/a><\/sup> connector. It has a shroud (the metal shell surrounding the pins). One can argue that the counterpart gets inserted into this connector. So this should be female?<br>We will learn later that at least for this type of connector, <strong>male == pins<\/strong>. Which is a good argument to just call it <code>pins<\/code> since its less ambiguous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Vendor<\/th><th>Part number<\/th><th>Naming<\/th><th>Link<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Amphenol ICC<\/td><td><code>D\/8656\/ DP SERIES<\/code><\/td><td>Pin\/Socket<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amphenol-cs.com\/media\/wysiwyg\/files\/documentation\/datasheet\/inputoutput\/io_dsub_d8656.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.amphenol-cs.com\/media\/wysiwyg\/files\/documentation\/datasheet\/inputoutput\/io_dsub_d8656.pdf<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Tyco Electronic<\/td><td>1-5747150-3<\/td><td>Receptacle<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.te.com\/usa-en\/product-1-5747150-3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.te.com\/usa-en\/product-1-5747150-3.html<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>W\u00fcrth<\/td><td><code>210111003<\/code><\/td><td>Male<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.we-online.com\/katalog\/datasheet\/210111003.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.we-online.com\/katalog\/datasheet\/210111003.pdf<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Canon ITT<\/td><td><code>DE-9P-K87<\/code><\/td><td>Pin<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/media.digikey.com\/pdf\/Data%20Sheets\/ITT%20PDFs\/DE-9P-K87.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/media.digikey.com\/pdf\/Data Sheets\/ITT PDFs\/DE-9P-K87.pdf<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>JAE<\/td><td><code>DE-9SF-N<\/code><\/td><td>Pin\/Socket<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jae.com\/direct\/topics\/topics_file_download\/?topics_id=66362&amp;ext_no=06&amp;index=0&amp;_lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.jae.com\/direct\/topics\/topics_file_download\/?topics_id=66362&amp;ext_no=06&amp;index=0&amp;_lang=en<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Assmann WSW<\/td><td><code>A-DF 09 LL\/Z<\/code><\/td><td>Male\/Female<\/td><td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.assmann-wsw.com\/uploads\/datasheets\/ASS_4884_CO.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/www.assmann-wsw.com\/uploads\/datasheets\/ASS_4884_CO.pdf<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>NorComp<\/td><td><code>171-009-103L001<\/code><\/td><td>Male\/Female<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/content.norcomp.net\/rohspdfs\/Connectors\/17Y\/171\/171-YYY-10YLYY1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/content.norcomp.net\/rohspdfs\/Connectors\/17Y\/171\/171-YYY-10YLYY1.pdf<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>3M<\/td><td><code>8200<\/code> &amp; <code>8300 Series<\/code><\/td><td>Plug\/Receptacle\/Socket<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3m.com\/3M\/en_US\/p\/c\/electronics-components\/interconnect-products\/input-output-connectors\/d-shaped\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.3m.com\/3M\/en_US\/p\/c\/electronics-components\/interconnect-products\/input-output-connectors\/d-shaped\/<\/a><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Molex<\/td><td><code>1727040160<\/code><\/td><td>Male<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.molex.com\/webdocs\/datasheets\/pdf\/en-us\/1727040160_DSUB_PRODUCTS.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.molex.com\/webdocs\/datasheets\/pdf\/en-us\/1727040160_DSUB_PRODUCTS.pdf<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are at least 20 different vendors for DE-9 connectors on Digikey, I did not check all of them. That is not needed, it is quite obvious that vendors don\u2019t agree on naming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Other-PCB-tools\">Other PCB tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Orcad\u00ae-Layout\">Orcad\u00ae Layout<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Uses <strong>Plug<\/strong> &amp; <strong>Socket<\/strong><br><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/2db39240-a192-4409-9c71-a536f8555653.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><br>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/ohm.bu.edu\/~pbohn\/__Engineering_Reference\/pcb_layout\/Footprints.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">http:\/\/ohm.bu.edu\/~pbohn\/__Engineering_Reference\/pcb_layout\/Footprints.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Target-3001\">Target 3001!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Uses <strong>STIFT<\/strong> (=pin) and <strong>male<\/strong> at the same time.<br><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/8212721c-8aad-4c93-8650-3032a4e579b0.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Altium-Designer\">Altium Designer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Uses <strong>Receptacle<\/strong><br><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/f39de7ce-27d4-4ef0-8050-8d9bca96e09d.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Standard-documents\">Standard documents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, next up we take a closer look at the standard documents. There are quite a few different standards to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"German-DIN-41652-D-Sub-connectors\">German DIN 41652 (D-Sub connectors)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/5ee97b4c-ceca-4d61-99f9-11f40d81bf4f.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The German DIN uses<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li class=\"\"><code>F<\/code> = female contacts &#8211; spring contacts<\/li><li class=\"\"><code>M<\/code> = male contacts &#8211; pins<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The interesting part here is that the proper letter would be <code>W<\/code> (weiblich) instead of <code>F<\/code> to indicate the gender. One could argue that the F stands for <code>Federkontakte<\/code>. Most likely, this is just a translation issue (as in the letters are not translated at all). I guess the letters (m\/f) are supposed to indicate gender.<br>What is clear here, the male\/female wording aims at the pins, not the connector shell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"International-IEC-60807-2\">International IEC 60807-2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately I only have the German translation of this. Its pretty similar to the the same as <code>DIN 41652<\/code>:<br><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/1141fe51-817e-4893-97ea-0bd4fdb8ac25.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"MIL-C-24308C\">MIL-C-24308C<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I could not find the words male or female in there at all. The document always refers to \u201cplugs and receptacles\u201d. The key word listing has pin\/socket and plug\/receptacle.<br><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/39c31913-dced-4d84-84eb-eb1132661e1c.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Data-for-other-connectors\">Data for other connectors<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"DIN-4000-54-\u201cSachmerkmal-Leisten\u201d\">DIN 4000-54 \u201cSachmerkmal-Leisten\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This norm has rules that specify how different connectors should be described.<br>The tables that describe the contact don\u2019t mention male\/female. Instead Messer\/Feder (translated to Socket\/Pin) is used.<br><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/a9e2b68e-5ab3-4e2b-9865-3c47cb9c05c7.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/6d30cfcc-ec8d-4d2b-ab4a-fc0f95bafdd3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"DIN-EN-60603-2-Replaces-DIN41612\">DIN EN 60603-2 (Replaces DIN41612)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Those are connectors used in rack systems. See <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/DIN_41612\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/DIN_41612<\/a> for some pictures.<br>The connectors of this series are named male\/female in the spec.<br><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/37ab97e4-7296-4464-a4ed-2a341fb2e19a.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly enough, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.te.com\/commerce\/DocumentDelivery\/DDEController?Action=srchrtrv&amp;DocNm=1-1773725-1_Eurocard_QRG_EN&amp;DocType=DS&amp;DocLang=EN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TE calls them Plug\/Receptacle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"XLR-EN-61076-2-1032004\">XLR (EN 61076-2-103:2004)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The connectors of this series are named male\/female in the spec.<br>As far as I can tell, vendors (Neutrik, Switchcraft) also choose this naming scheme.<br><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/chaos.mimoja.de\/uploads\/24b95ea2-3fd0-49c0-8274-d46a4b96c2c1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"So-what-does-\u2018inclusive-language\u2019-actually-mean\">So what does \u2018inclusive language\u2019 actually mean?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>That is hard, perhaps impossible for me to answer. I have always been included in a tech environment. As a member of the dominant culture I don\u2019t experience <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Microaggression\" target=\"_blank\">microagressions<\/a> when reading those words.<br>Other people however are affected by this language. Those asked me to do something about it. I want KiCad to be a safe space for anybody. That&#8217;s my main motivation to change things.<br>Given how small the cost of a change is, I am much in favor of getting rid of non-inclusive words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>We learned that there is no single truth, thus we need to weight our options.<br>Regarding the KiCad-Library I made the following decisions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><code>D-Subminiature<\/code> rename to Pin\/Socket.<ul><li>Solves the confusion about what is considered male<\/li><li>About half of the vendors use that naming<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><code>XLR<\/code> and <code>DIN EN 60603-2<\/code><ul><li>Stick with male\/female<\/li><li>Its consistent with vendor naming and standards<\/li><li>Its still ambiguous \ud83d\ude41<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><code>Connector_Generic<\/code><ul><li>They are generic, with no footprint and thus not vendor associated<\/li><li>The names are made up, so we can just change them as we like<\/li><li>Pin\/Socket seems like a good fit<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><code>RJ45 Jacks<\/code> (I did not explicitly research them)<ul><li>everybody already calls them jacks<\/li><li>Just rename them to jack or socket<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><code>USB Connectors<\/code><ul><li>They don\u2019t have protruding pins<\/li><li>The spec does specify what a jack and plug is<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I get that people will be unhappy with this change. Or on the contrary, argue that even the XLR-Connectors need to be renamed now. Saying that I don\u2019t care about other peoples opinion would be a lie. I obvious do, otherwise I would not have spend this much time and effort on trying to making KiCad more inclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ol id=\"footnotes\"><li>Applies to the \u201cReverse\u201d SMA or BNC connectors<\/li><li>as always with electronic components. There is at least one vendor that has a totally different system. <\/li><li>also known as \u201cPlug\u201d or \u201cPin\u201d<\/li><li>a common misconception is to call this connector DB-9 which is technically wrong. <\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Using the male\/female terminology for connectors seems to be the industry standard. In the past I have never questioned this. Its just how things are and how I learned to work with them.In one of my recent KiCad-Workshops I talked to people that would like to get rid of those words. There are a few &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/2022\/12\/gendered-connectors-in-electronics\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Gendered Connectors in Electronics<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[160,11,161,163,156,162],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384,"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ca.rstenpresser.de\/blag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}