pictures). Both terms mean the same thing but could be construed to be completely different items. Similarly, a male standard-density D-sub with a size 1 shell can be named DE9M or DE9P; a female standard-density D-sub with a size 2 shell can be named DA15F or DA15S; a male high-density D-sub with a size 3 shell can be named DB44M or DB44P; and so forth. Gender selection in electronic design Electronic designers often select female jack connectors for fixed mounting on electronic equipment they design. This is usually done because female connectors are more resistant to damage or contamination, by virtue of their concealed or recessed electrical contacts. A damaged motherboard connector can result in the scrapping of an expensive piece of electronic equipment. The risk of damage is reduced by relegating the more exposed male contacts to connecting cables, which can be repaired or replaced at lower cost. For example, in an RS-232 serial port, the male connector is more mechanically fragile than the female connector. Cost and reliability considerations probably drove the design decision to use female jack connectors on many computer terminals (and some personal computers) for the serial port, despite being in direct violation of the connector gender convention explicitly specified in the RS-232 standard for "DTE" computer equipment. This confusing reversal of the RS-232 connector gender convention has caused many hours of frustration for ill-informed end users, as they tried to troubleshoot non-functional serial port equipment connections. Safety In electrical connections where voltage or current is sufficient to cause injury, the part permanently connected to the power source is invariably female, with concealed contacts, to prevent inadvertent touching of live conductors by people or animals, or by conductive items that may cause a short circuit. A male plug, with fully exposed protruding contacts, is installed on the cord of (or directly onto) the device receiving the power. Devices that need to be robust against mechanical damage may use a special male IEC 60320 C14 connector (see Gallery above), which is recessed below the surface of a mounting panel, providing the desired physical protection while conforming to safety regulations. In the case of consumer-level AC power, connector gender is used to implicitly enforce safe use of power connectors. Because of this consideration, it is illegal under electrical code to make or use any gender changers to connect AC line power to consumer-level equipment. A double-ended male