Once again I think that, yes, the new doctrine is really stupid controlling. Yes, the goverment is also stupid and out dated, yes sexism is alive and well, and yes, by being male I currrently have a statistic advantage over women. I get over any sexist issues by remembering just how idiotic things have gotten, I actually automaticly assume that an intelligent person can outsmart me in thier preferd catagory and I also assume that women are probably going to be better at manipulating me into things then men as I tend to trust women easier. By applying the first half of this logic to any situation I can get over any stupid preconcieved notions I have about anyone being a lesser person and can respect them in any situation they care to reach for. As for the second half of my logic I read a whole bunch of the stuff in the thread talking about how sexism still sucks so this is at the top of my brain, and from experience the most manipulative people I have ever known are cute girls a little younger then me who I refuse to f***ing underestimate because I have seen them take advantage of teachers, their friends, and on occasion me. I fear any even halfway intelligent seven year old girl like I fear nothing else in my life. By the way, I hate anyone with a prejudice on principle because it is thier choice to accept prejudice. I am not socially akward in any particular way (i'm a native american\ norwiegan with a large vocabulary and popular friends in every clique) and I have still felt prejudice, because people are not willing to get the hell over themselves. I know that being prejudice is a choice that can be gone back upon, therefore any decent logical human being should be able to live without prejudice. Praise the Earth spirits, Ala, Jahova, Jesus, Odin, Zues, Ra, Buhda, Brahma Vishnu and Shiva, and any other pantheon who wants to listen. If you hate men, women, any one people from anywhere without a reason, you are automaticly less then human. To counteract the seriousness of that last post: Elmo had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Elmo had a little lamb who fleece was bright as gold. Everywhere that Elmo went, Elmo went, Elmo went, Everywhere that elmo went, the lamb was sure to go. Untill I ate it. It was delicious with garlic butter and rosemary.
I've been unreasonably heated in this topic; sorry for snapping back at you Beast. What I think it comes down to is the question over "just cause". I don't think there is "just cause" to put this kind of restriction on languages. When I came back to England, having been born in the Middle East, I valued my ability to speak English, and I take pride in how I speak. I do still value my English and Irish heritage (and the Irish tend to be a bit more blunt about how they say things!) so if someone tells me I can't say something when the word or phrase is, in itself, harmless, I'll defend my ability to say it. I respect when certain persons say they don't want to be referred to in certain ways, and, more often than not, if I'm on a mutual level with them, then I'll not refer to them in a way which is inappropriate. Having said that, when I was younger I didn't learn "Ms". "Ms" came out in general chit-chat when I was about 10 or 11, and I didn't understand the relevant differences between "Miss" and "Ms". When I was working as a Paintball Marshal, part of my job was to meet and greet people as they entered the car park, and then advise them as to where they could park, etc etc. Every single time a woman - regardless of age - pulled up, I always said, "Good morning, ma'am". With men, I'd always say, "Good morning sir". It's still addressing them in a respectful way, because I don't know if the two people in the car are married, engaged, courting, dating or are just travelling together. What do you think of the term "Ma'am"/"Madame"? If someone were to address you as such over the phone or in person as "Ma'am" or "Madame" (either with the emphasis on the "Ma" or on the "da") what would you think/feel? Strangely enough, if someone says "sir" to me, I kinda wrinkle my nose because what goes across my mind is - well actually a couple things - "I'm not that old yet" and, "I haven't earned that title yet".
S'okay, Dumu. o: I apologize now for necro'ing this thread in order to reply again. But I kind of wanted to add a few things! Firstly, regarding the washroom debate again... This view of "two opposite sexes" or separate sexes so different that they each require their own room to do the exact same thing in -- it's a little strange to me. I think that if gender roles were less emphasized, we as a society would have healthier views of sex, sexuality, love, other humans, etc. It would also be nice if gender roles were not emphasized at all, because honestly, the whole "men /evolved/ into hunters and women /evolved/ into childrearing babymachines" excuse is BS; no one thinks it's alright to club someone on the head or hunt large game with stone spears while wearing loincloths any more, so why is it alright to continue these totally outdated "traditions" known as gender roles? While I agree that hormones have a huge impact on the way a body develops physically, I don't think the mind is all that shaped by hormones, when it comes to personality -- it's how the mind is raised that affects it. I like using the title Mx. instead of Ms. or Mr. etc. I don't like ma'am and sir. I hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhate with a passion when women are referred to by their husbands' names (Mrs. Bob Johnson! oh hi! you have no identity outside that of your husband anymore). I like the word "person" over "man" or "woman." I think if we all just think of ourselves as humans and our jobs as jobs for humans, we'll be better off. I didn't really address this in my first post: I do now agree with what most of the other folks here have said regarding the government interceding and banning such words. It's a little weird, like dystopian 1984 government trying to monitor your speech. It's also very sad, because it probably won't be effective at all anyway, except in legal documents and stuff. I dunno. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it's an issue that probably can't be forced either way. On the other, it's kinda neat that a government would at least /try/ to fix this sort of social issue. I do not know! Blerp! Let's see if this post makes any sense to me tomorrow when I reread it.
I don't know If I can agree about all aspects of the last post so I'll say what I agree with first. You're absolutely right about roles no longer being predefined, only people think they still are. Nurses are usually women, and Doctors are usually men, but these steriotypes are slowly changing so that most jobs have the same number of each sex. Some jobs like Midwife (yes I know, a sexist title) are probably going to have to be mostly women because men are naturally adverse to some jobs. On the other hand jobs that require great physical strength with no room for machines are still going to be man dominated feilds. Academics though, are looking better for equal opportunity jobs every day, teachers are already about equal in many places and science has been filiing with more and more Femal PHD's. Most of the world seems to be slowly progressing BACK to the equal opportunity that may monotheistic religions in Europe suddenly started to remove. I Don't agree with the lack of title's that allow the designation of Sex simply because it would be easier for most people. If the patent or copyright or something is registerd by last name and the doctor's jealous family/ex-lover who also have the same last name might move in and take the rights to something. there are some seriously evil people out there. I know my explanation for disagreement is kind of weak But the title thing should be left more or less alone.
