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Subject:The myth of sexist language From:Callie <callie -at- WRITEPAGE -dot- COM> Date:Sat, 5 Aug 1995 02:30:39 GMT
First, assume that the gender-neutral proponents are correct and that
writing continually with words that favor one of the sexes will cause the
other to be discriminated against. If a girl reads "he" in a manual she will
promptly assume that the equipment can only be operated by possessors of the Y
chromosome (or it has some interestingly designed push-buttons) and will
retreat to the kitchen and conceive.
Is it our useage of the words HIStory, MANkind, and the huMAN race that are
the cause of the long oppression of the feMALE half of the huMAN race.?
Poppycock and balderdash!
If words had that effect on us, why ... how about other languages? In
Spanish, the HIStory of MANkind becomes LA historiA de LA razA (all feminine
words). They have LA libertad, LA igualdad, and LA fraternidad. Latin
America should be a bastion of female power and influence.
