Sexist Words

[chowderface]

It's one thing to teach people to respect the opposite sex, but teaching kids not to refer to people as a "him" or "her" would be pushing a bit too far. I mean a girl's a girl and a boy's a boy. You can't deny that.

Untrue, as a matter of fact. The explanation why is long and complicated but the short version goes like this:

Sex is whether you are male or female, according to biology. Penis and XY is boy, vagina and XX is girl, all is straightforward. Gender is whether you are male or female, according to psychology. This is less clear-cut. Most people, like you and me, are cisgendered. That means that they are, psychologically, the same gender as their sex. Other people are transgender (or genderqueer, or a number of other terms, but they all mean basically the same thing), which means they are not the same gender as their sex; this could mean they have the opposite gender to their sex, but it could just as well mean that they're gender-neutral. Using "him" or "her" to refer to someone who doesn't self-identify as either gender is actually quite rude.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Probably because country's dont have genders. Cept for america

Full 12 inches of manhood...(teardrop)

Must've been castrated... no balls. The Eurozone's got Finland & Sweden...

Am I the only one who read the thread title as "Sexy Words"? Damn I'm tired.

I read it as 'Sexiest', so close enough... three hours sleep...

OT: Virtually any term of feminine endearment is considered sexist these days in a non-personal context these days. *shrug*

 

[farscythe]

vaguely remember extreme feminists making the news for calling the word manager sexist... it should be changed to personager

 

[BabyRaptor]

vaguely remember extreme feminists making the news for calling the word manager sexist... it should be changed to personager

Personager? Seriously? That's just...I don't even know.

I'm trying to imagine being addressed as a "Personager." It's not working.

 

[Brandon237]

Political Correctness has gone too far, here we mostly worry about race... Damnit, it is not racist to point out what race someone is, it is only racist if you discriminate or judge them for it!

I refer to most things, games, cars, countries et cetera as she, only he if they are things that REALLY scream masculine...

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

I have recently noticed that they are trying to change the word "layman" to "layperson." I am strongly against this change.

 

[BaronUberstein]

At first I read this and I thought it said sexiest words.

reading it now, the thing that comes to mind is the who PC change about job positions typically held by men now being changed to person (even though I personally dont seem to see any of women in that particular profession).

Another thing i see it in is naming weapons (I know I have a sword I named faith), and cars (my old car was named victoria, my new one is named Elizabeth), and I get weird looks for both.

...
Sweden's is bigger.

http://satwcomic.com/art/geography-joke.jpg

...

But swedens is only visible when its gone. and what use is a member when you have to detach it for it be usable? especially since its always fighting with its biggest part?

Huh? Sweden was always in the picture, Norway was the country that left.

 

[emeraldrafael]

At first I read this and I thought it said sexiest words.

reading it now, the thing that comes to mind is the who PC change about job positions typically held by men now being changed to person (even though I personally dont seem to see any of women in that particular profession).

Another thing i see it in is naming weapons (I know I have a sword I named faith), and cars (my old car was named victoria, my new one is named Elizabeth), and I get weird looks for both.

...
Sweden's is bigger.

http://satwcomic.com/art/geography-joke.jpg

...

But swedens is only visible when its gone. and what use is a member when you have to detach it for it be usable? especially since its always fighting with its biggest part?

Huh? Sweden was always in the picture, Norway was the country that left.

*looks aroundi n a panic* Oh no, my weakness of geography has been revealed, but I must not let them know. quick, stun them with your wealth of medical knowledge

um.... DAMN!

...

Oka, my mistake. though I wonder how bad it would be to say that I honestly dont see a big enough difference to ever remember the two by their flags. I know the two flags, and I know they are the two countries, but i always mix up the flags.

 

[DaKiller]

http://satwcomic.com/art/geography-joke.jpg

..."snigger"?...

OT: I've gotten in trouble for using "sexist" words before but it isn't like she wasn't a mail lady dammit!

 

[Chemical Alia]

Most female variants of professions sound retarded anyway, so I'm all for gender neutral workplace titles. I like languages that don't need to specify gender for things like that, like Chinese for example. Even "he" and "she" are pronounced the same, and meaning is understood perfectly fine in context of what is being said.

 

[Mr.-3]

I feel gender neutral words are simply a distraction from real problems. Problems such as wages based on gender, race, height, & weight.

 

[enriel]

I've gotten pretty sick of the oversensitivity to words. I call things what I learned to call them. As long as both myself and the person with whom I am speaking both understand the what is being said and the context it is being said in, there should not be any problems.

If I talk about the mailman (even if it's a lady), people know what job I am referring to. I'm not saying mailman to be rude or degrade women in any way; it's just always been mailman as far as I am concerned.

Words only have as much power as you give them, so by choosing to try and change words because you think they're 'too hurtful' or whatever the reason, you're just being way too sensitive.

 

[Iron Mal]

I'll accept that a word is harmful and sexist as long as someone can take the time to come up with a good explanation as to why it is rather than just because 'it has man/woman in it!' (does this mean that the words man and woman are themselves inherantly sexist?).

Otherwise it tends to be the handy work of a few easily offended people (who sometimes have good, decent intentions) who don't quite have the right ideas as to how exactly they should help the issue.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I often wind up using gender neutral terms (like flight attendant, for example) because they tend to be more specific, and I generally prefer that.
Though certain gender neutral terms just don't quite sound right.
Anyone else remember the Woodsperson thing from Hey Arnold?
"Woodsperson? What the Heck is a Woodsperson?"
"We used to call them Woodsmen back where I come from, only that's Politically incorrect."

Man, How did that stick in my head word-for-word all these years..?

I remember that episode! *drifts into nostalgia*

Anyways, you got reprimanded for referring to a country as "she"? Why the hell is it called "America, the Beautiful" then? Are they saying America is a beautiful guy? And what about ships? They are always referred to in the feminine. Even if you called the ship "it", what do you call the first voyage? That's right...the "maiden voyage", a feminine term.

Sorry, that just bugs me. They didn't call the Stephen King book "Christopher", now did they?

 

[smearyllama]

You know what a sexist word is?
Wench.
But it wouldn't be if there were a male equivalent, right?
That's why Knave exists.
See?
We just need to balance everything out by being increasingly sexist towards each side.

 

[zehydra]

Language is a funny thing, and an awesome thing to study. I wish I could be like an expert on this and tell you all about why languages come up with sexist language (German does as well, get this: the German word for girl, Maedchen, literally means "Little maid").

I've also taken Japanese, and they have their own fair share of sexist language, like one of the words for wife: 家内 (pronounced Kanai = Ka + nigh) The first symbol, with the sound "Ka", means House or Home, and the second symbol "Nai", means Inside, or within.

So in japanese, one common word for wife is "Within the house".

Fun fun fun

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

You know what a sexist word is?
Wench.
But it wouldn't be if there were a male equivalent, right?
That's why Knave exists.
See?
We just need to balance everything out by being increasingly sexist towards each side.

But a wench is only a woman who pours the ale in a tavern. Or a woman who drinks a lot of ale...

 

[smearyllama]

You know what a sexist word is?
Wench.
But it wouldn't be if there were a male equivalent, right?
That's why Knave exists.
See?
We just need to balance everything out by being increasingly sexist towards each side.

But a wench is only a woman who pours the ale in a tavern. Or a woman who drinks a lot of ale...

A Game of Thrones, right?
You are a funny man.
It's really just one example, though.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

You know what a sexist word is?
Wench.
But it wouldn't be if there were a male equivalent, right?
That's why Knave exists.
See?
We just need to balance everything out by being increasingly sexist towards each side.

But a wench is only a woman who pours the ale in a tavern. Or a woman who drinks a lot of ale...

A Game of Thrones, right?
You are a funny man.
It's really just one example, though.

Dragon Age: Origins, actually.