Is Gender-Neutral Use of the Word "Guys" Harmful to Women?

[CanadianCowboysFan]

In modern times, authors tend to resolve the problem by using their own gender. Female authors use "she." Male authors use "he."

True.

Why not just return to the lingo from the 70s and say "cats"

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Is it vitally important for you, or anyone else, to know for certain whether the child is a girl or boy in their infancy?

No.

Is it damaging the baby to not be wearing pink or blue?

It may well be damaging to a toddler to wear pink, if is a boy, and to be made fun of by the other boys on that basis.

Since children often define their social circles along gender lines, it may also be damaging to be excluded from both the boys' and girls' playgroups on the basis that nobody knows "its" gender.

There are myriad ways (not all of which are immediately foreseeable) in which this child may suffer harmful social consequences from a decision that it played no role in forming.

Radical social agenda...I swear, mountains out of molehills on the grand scale.

Is this an experiment that you would conduct with your own child? If not, why not?

By any reasonable definition, this is radical. And since I believe the child's interests should be the foremost consideration in this case, I'm disinclined to treat the issue as an insignificant "molehill".

 

[the kid 05]

Why does it matter? It's just a word....

So are alot of other words that throw people into an uproar...people are just pansies by nature and get hurt by the simplest non-harmful ment ways

 

[Faerluna]

Blah blah blah

The point is not what *I* would do, it's if it is society's business to tell people how to raise their kids. As long as it isn't physically or mentally abusive, it really is none of my business if they let their boys wear pink shirts.

The gender mystery won't be going on for much longer anyway. Kids grow and resemble their gender.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

So are alot of other words that throw people into an uproar...people are just pansies by nature and get hurt by the simplest non-harmful ment ways

I know, I don't really understand.. People can say whatever words to me and ill say csb, doesn't really phase me unless they insult my family.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

I assume you are discussing the hippies in Toronto who called their child Storm and will let him/her choose his/her gender?

Up to them but the kid will need counselling.

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

The point is not what *I* would do, it's if it is society's business to tell people how to raise their kids. As long as it isn't physically or mentally abusive, it really is none of my business if they let their boys wear pink shirts.

That's exactly what is at issue. The claim is that it is mentally abusive, since it subjects the child to potentially socially abusive consequences or is otherwise harmful to the development of its self-identify. And it's not just a claim that I'm making. The psychologist interviewed in the piece intimates as much. So too does CanadianCowboysFan.

 

[Kangaroo]

To me, the fundamental issue is whether it really is harmful to the healthy development by women of gender identity and self-esteem. If it is, I'd be all for changing the language (just as we've changed it, for example, by curtailing our use of the offensive term "******" to refer to people who face mental development challenges). I just struggle with the notion that it is harmful.

If it was so harmful how have women managed to survive this long in History :bang2:.

 

[vta]

That's exactly what is at issue. The claim is that it is mentally abusive, since it subjects the child to potentially socially abusive consequences or is otherwise harmful to the development of its self-identify. And it's not just a claim that I'm making. The psychologist interviewed in the piece intimates as much. So too does CanadianCowboysFan.

The psychologist must be bored. That or the human mind has been thoroughly figured out and psychologists have outlived their usefulness.

In all seriousness, going along the 'pansy' line as stated above, Western Civilization has so run it's course that it's looking for causes in every corner to fill it's time. Evidently lodging, hunger, greater expansion of the human mind is no longer an issue and some dopes want to turn in and start picking apart the fabric of their own society in an almost deranged manner. Like the fool in the asylum insisting there're bugs all over him.

Who's crying over words; labels, etc. Man what happened to a generation? We used to look back at how our parents dressed us and laugh about it. Some people really think this is abuse?? They might benefit from being dropped off in Afghanistan or somewhere equally hellish.

 

[Faerluna]

That's exactly what is at issue. The claim is that it is mentally abusive, since it subjects the child to potentially socially abusive consequences or is otherwise harmful to the development of its self-identify. And it's not just a claim that I'm making. The psychologist interviewed in the piece intimates as much. So too does CanadianCowboysFan.

The last person you should be taking moral queues from is CCF and I couldn't give less of a **** about what he thinks.

This is from the mother after the ridiculous backlash they received, and I respect that it's their decision on how to raise their kids.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/998960--genderless-baby-s-mother-responds-to-media-frenzy

 

[the kid 05]

I know, I don't really understand.. People can say whatever words to me and ill say csb, doesn't really phase me unless they insult my family.

its all in one ear out the other, untill you insult my mom haha. I get made fun of for being irish, french and italian (mostly the french part) but its all in fun in my eyes. Even where i work, my nick name is wueto and gringo which roughly translates to white boy, people need to lighten up and have some fun

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

The last person you should be taking moral queues from is CCF and I couldn't give less of a **** about what he thinks.

This is from the mother after the ridiculous backlash they received, and I respect that it's their decision on how to raise their kids.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/998960--genderless-baby-s-mother-responds-to-media-frenzy

I'm a better parent than you are your highness.

So you think it is ok to let your son basically be a girl like Jazz?

 

[Faerluna]

I'm a better parent than you are your highness

Oh, I really have a lot of doubts about that, especially since you have no earthly idea what kind of parent I am.

 

[Faerluna]

So you think it is ok to let your son basically be a girl like Jazz?

I don't have a son, but if I did, and he wanted to wear pink clothes and have long hair, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

This is from the mother after the ridiculous backlash they received, and I respect that it's their decision on how to raise their kids.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/998960--genderless-baby-s-mother-responds-to-media-frenzy

Thanks for posting this. The mother is obviously very thoughtful and defends the decision articulately and compellingly. I jumped the gun in judging the decision. Which is not to say that I think the decision is ultimately correct or within her right to make (that, to me, depends on how the evidence shakes out on the impact on the child). Only that I need to know more before making that assessment.

 

[ZeroClub]

Country folk solved this problem long ago. Ya'll

Right. "Ya'll" and "Folks" work and are gender neutral. I use them more than "guys", but I do use "guys too.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

I don't have a son, but if I did, and he wanted to wear pink clothes and have long hair, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

That's just not right.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

Right. "Ya'll" and "Folks" work and are gender neutral. I use them more than "guys", but I do use "guys too.

I used to say Ya'll all the time, i'm from New York and I disliked being called a redneck cowboys fan. :laugh2:

 

[vta]

I don't have a son, but if I did, and he wanted to wear pink clothes and have long hair, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Would you mind if he wore a dress, like the kid in the linked article?

 

[Faerluna]

Would you mind if he wore a dress, like the kid in the linked article?

I'm not saying that this is how I would raise my child. I'm just saying that I have no problem with letting people live how they want to live, because they are free to do so in this country (and in Canada).