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Sexist terms

Society changes and sometimes for the better. I agree with @Suzette. It is something we can all try to do better in our discourse. It used to bother me as a kid. Why do they say mankind, etc. But I’m against trying to rewrite books and our history. We can’t hide the sins of our past. We can just try to learn from them and move forward. On a side note, the term master and slave is used in programming and has come under attack. When checking in source code, programmers check it into the “master” branch. And in database architecture, the main database that you can read and write records to is called the “master”, and a duplicate read-only version of the database is the “slave”.
 
The term master is indicative of age too.

The address of a male under 18 yrs was master, they became a mister (Mr) on coming of age at 18.


Will the affectionate term,
'Mother Earth' change to parental earth?

If the word niece and other female descriptors were used less frequently, how might I describe the offspring of my parents sibling using just one word and 'they' (she) likes to be identified and addressed as female?

What other single word might I use to suggest the idea of family relationship and gender when referring to my niece?
 
Gracey said:
Will the affectionate term,
'Mother Earth' change to parental earth?
Click to expand...
It's probably the affectionate term would still stick around by those that want to use it.
But realistically, earth and nature can easily be referred to without the "mother" prefix.
Just like we don't often say "father time".

Gracey said:
If the word niece and other female descriptors were used less frequently, how might I describe the offspring of my parents sibling using just one word and 'they' (she) likes to be identified and addressed as female?

What other single word might I use to suggest the idea of family relationship and gender when referring to my niece?
Click to expand...

Nibling, apparently:
Words We're Watching: 'Nibling'
 
Gracey said:
The term master is indicative of age too.

The address of a male under 18 yrs was master, they became a mister (Mr) on coming of age at 18.


Will the affectionate term,
'Mother Earth' change to parental earth?

If the word niece and other female descriptors were used less frequently, how might I describe the offspring of my parents sibling using just one word and 'they' (she) likes to be identified and addressed as female?

What other single word might I use to suggest the idea of family relationship and gender when referring to my niece?
Click to expand...
Probably a large majority of people prefer to be addressed by their biological gender. And a large majority consider biological gender a primary criterion for social and/or romantic relationships. I think any attempt to "revise" gender out of the language is not going to succeed.

The simple solution is to simply not care what pronoun or gender-specific term is used as long as there is no intent to be insulting.
 
Just want to point out that you can’t change ‘fisherman’ to ‘fisherperson’. It would have to be ‘fisherperchild’. :)
 
I don't have an issue with words like 'fisherman' or 'postman'. What I do have a problem with, is stereotypes, assumptions and expectations based on gender, and then the judgement that often comes when a person doesn't conform to these gender norms.
 
I never understood the reasoning behind gender identification except when truly needed.
Legal documents, medical needs or romantic intentions.
Using distinctions in titles especially in types of work seemed unecessary.
I've felt this from childhood.
Such as the Mailman, men working, Madam or Mister, or any other career type titles.
Make them as neutral, genderless or equal as possible.

I remember when it was professional to address a letter or say Mr. Miss or Mrs.
I used to write the name and addresses on the stack of Christmas cards my parents had to mail
when I was a kid and I didn't put the Mr. or Miss or Mrs. in front of the names and they thought that
was terrible.
Then Ms. was introduced. Mom had a fit over that one. She felt being called Mrs. was something to
take pride in and the neutral Ms. was distasteful.
So times are changing.
Dad made fun of the mailperson and asked if he would need to say mailwoman now, plus a few other
things like that.

I'm not proud to be addressed by gender. Some still are.
The expression of calling a group of two or more "Guys" is great in my opinion, but, disliked by
others. That was discussed here once.
Gender is only anatomical.
 
Magna said:
Misandry is active and alive as well, my friend; more so than it's probably ever been, actually.
Click to expand...
Can a misandrist forcibly make someone pregnant ,ask the misandrists of India, who makes female widows beggars on the street?, not even allowing them clothing, after they've spent a lifetime caring for their family, a clue the abuser isn't female!.
 
Gracey said:
The term master is indicative of age too.

The address of a male under 18 yrs was master, they became a mister (Mr) on coming of age at 18.


Will the affectionate term,
'Mother Earth' change to parental earth?

If the word niece and other female descriptors were used less frequently, how might I describe the offspring of my parents sibling using just one word and 'they' (she) likes to be identified and addressed as female?

What other single word might I use to suggest the idea of family relationship and gender when referring to my niece?
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone is suggesting we do away with gender modifiers entirely. But gender modifiers aren't always appropriate. Your neice is your neice. We don't have to rewrite that.
But if your neice isn't a neice then we should be able to say so without all the verbal gynastics we currently do. Often those gynastics offer no clarity anyway.

I get frustrated with people who insist on outing others. "My brother, who is transgender..." What the H is that? Transgender is irrelevant to almost all discussions.

Gender is almost always irrelevant too. We are simply used to using gender as a descriptor. But gender seldom matters.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Suzette said:
I get frustrated with people who insist on outing others. "My brother, who is transgender..." What the F is that? Transgender is irrelevant to almost all discussions.
Click to expand...

People need to put others into boxes. It is what they do, and I agree I think it is terribly frustrating.
 
Au Naturel said:
Probably a large majority of people prefer to be addressed by their biological gender. And a large majority consider biological gender a primary criterion for social and/or romantic relationships. I think any attempt to "revise" gender out of the language is not going to succeed.

The simple solution is to simply not care what pronoun or gender-specific term is used as long as there is no intent to be insulting.
Click to expand...

Good point. Is it wrong to be happy with and even proud of the biological sex you were born as and to consider that your gender? Funny how the discussion involves the idea that everyone should be able to express who they are as they want to but literally removing gender pronouns from language would mean you're taking away a person's ability to refer to themselves as she/her or he/him, wouldn't it? I find all of this fascinating.
 
Streetwise said:
Can a misandrist forcibly make someone pregnant ,ask the misandrists of India, who makes female widows beggars on the street?, not even allowing them clothing, after they've spent a lifetime caring for their family, a clue the abuser isn't female!.
Click to expand...


Your point is valid. As is mine.
 
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