Gender Discussion #8

[emm]

Language is such an interesting thing. The French have always tried to tightly control theirs and have a ministry dedicated to it. I personally disagree with that. Language evolves and that's fine. I think the move from default 'chairman' to 'chairperson' for example was positive, but it was individuals and organisations who made that change happen and you won't get arrested if you say 'chairman'. (Not that you would get arrested in France, but you know what I mean. No one owns English).

Interestingly, the '-ess' suffix (actress, manageress, etc.) is no longer favoured in English, whereas in German, like in French, there is a move to include the female ending to all nouns like this, having a sort of hybrid using either a midpoint or an asterix. So in the English speaking world people prefer to use the word 'actor' which originally was only for men, for both men and women whereas in German people are pushing for 'Schauspieler*innen'.

I find the top-down approach adopted by large businesses and organisations on some of the gender neutral language ill advised. Trying to control how people speak seems Orwellian to me. The reason people are reluctant to use 'they' as a singular pronoun is because it makes things unclear in many instances. NOT in the often cited instance of when you don't know a person (and how we have used 'they' as a singular pronoun for ages). But here's an example of using 'they' as a singular pronoun that I found really confusing.



Does the first 'they' refer to Alex and Krista? If they are married, how can they have sisters? Oh, it refers to Courntey. Fine. Hang on, Ahsley and Brittany were 9 and 11 when they were born? What? How can you be 9 at your own birth?

I don't have an issue with a third singular pronoun in principle, though I find the focus on it strange, given that the person being referred to won't be there and therefore not know how they are being referred to. I get that 'it' is dehumanising ,but 'they' is often really confusing. Neopronouns have not worked, because deliberately introducing grammatical terms like this has never happened in English as far as I'm aware.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on language. Thanks for listening.

I agree, as someone interested in linguistics I have always found it interesting that French has adopted lots of english words but Spanish has "spanified" (for want of a better word) lots of english words to make them spanish.
Regarding the thing about actor/actress etc... I used to (I teach english as a foreign language) just teach/use, for example. actor for everyone but now I have changed my mind. Why should we get rid of the female version and go for male as default? I use the pronound "they" as default if you are not referring to a specific person, because it annoys me that otherwise it would be he, which, as I said, should not be the default. I do not get how the same people arguing for using the male terms, like actor, for everyone, somehow also argue for they as everyone... it seems like women's words are being erased to an extent. What needs to happen (Imo) is a change of the view of certain "female" words as less prestigious or whatever, there is still the view than "actress" as opposed to "actor" seems less prestigious, this is what we need to change

 

[Falkor]

Sorry, what...??

Absolutely not a fetish, no...

 

[Platformcrocs]

Sorry, what...?? View attachment 573963

Absolutely not a fetish, no...

Wtf are they even talking about. Are they really suggesting that a gynaecologist should be dealing with penises? That's just plain stupidity. Not transphobia. Next

 

[maytoseptember]

Love this.

 

[Zenchick101]

Language is such an interesting thing. The French have always tried to tightly control theirs and have a ministry dedicated to it. I personally disagree with that. Language evolves and that's fine.

Yes well, Quebec does the same thing with their version of french and perhaps Belgium as well. It's a form of language and cultural preservation in a world where we're becoming a bit more anglophone/americanized. The Cajuns in Louisiana are also fighting a losing battle to keep their dialect alive but cajun french is dying, there used to be more provinces that spoke French a lot in canada but not anymore. English is the most spoken language in the world, whenever I travel I always see english. Good for the anglophones but you don't have to worry about losing your distinct language. I see gender neutral language the same way - an american export to try and make us more like the anglophones.

 

[LaLa247]

Just an aside, I absolutely despise the term ‘girldick’ apart from the obvious why do they have to use ‘girl’ it feels very very icky to me.

 

[emmer_moans]

Love this.

Ha ha that's brilliant.

 

[Vee6]

Wtf are they even talking about. Are they really suggesting that a gynaecologist should be dealing with penises? That's just plain stupidity. Not transphobia. Next

Ridiculous. There will be urologists pretending to be gynaecologists pandering to this stupidity soon.

actually..it’s reminded me of something. A while ago I watched a YouTube video by a detranostioner FtM. And after de transitioning she was at a gynae appointment (American) and towards the end of the conversation she twigged that the doctor thought she was a MtF transwoman and therefore had been indulging the entire conversation!

The GOP's Sacred Eunuch: The Ludicrous Bruce Jenner - The Stream

Bruce Jenner, grotesquely disfigured, is running for Governor of our largest state on the P.T. Barnum Freak Show platform.

stream.org

 

[AnderbeauJohnson]

Just an aside, I absolutely despise the term ‘girldick’ apart from the obvious why do they have to use ‘girl’ it feels very very icky to me.

I found Hen an interesting one that gets used.


Edit - just seen this... could Pink News be any more insulting? At this point they're just trolling women by putting the last two next to each other.

 

[Vee6]

100% trolling

 

[JustHereForTheAgriculture]

I found Hen an interesting one that gets used.


Edit - just seen this... could Pink News be any more insulting? At this point they're just trolling women by putting the last two next to each other.

That last point should have been two fingers up seeing as the whole post is just one big middle finger to actual lesbians!

 

[Zenchick101]

- On behalf of straight women we don't want to duck you either.

*This loser right here figured out that he can't pressure straight women into dating him, but lesbians are easy prey

also, please note that even if you were sexually assaulted by a man/hace trauma related to penises you should get over it and suck his peen - vile conversion therapy

 

[emmer_moans]

- On behalf of straight women we don't want to duck you either.

*This loser right here figured out that he can't pressure straight women into dating him, but lesbians are easy prey

View attachment 574227

also, please note that even if you were sexually assaulted by a man/hace trauma related to penises you should get over it and suck his peen - vile conversion therapy

It worries me that these mostly young people are posting this dangerous nonsense on social media which will in turn "educate" *cough* indoctrinate *cough* younger kids and we will very soon have hundreds of thousands of little entitled young'uns thinking that lesbians must accept male gentialia Social media is the young and stupid educating even younger and impressionable people. Noone seems to be learning respect for boundaries and personal preference and innate sexuality anymore It's all BOW TO ME! LOOK AT ME! SHUT UP!

 

[LaLa247]

A man ‘presenting’ as a straight male making absolutely any comment, suggestion or question on the reasons women shouldn’t say no to sex would be absolutely shouted down by these types of people especially on a platform such a tik tok, yet just change your pronouns in your bio and you will be 100% supported.

 

[Zenchick101]

It worries me that these mostly young people are posting this dangerous nonsense on social media which will in turn "educate" *cough* indoctrinate *cough* younger kids and we will very soon have hundreds of thousands of little entitled young'uns thinking that lesbians must accept male gentialia Social media is the young and stupid educating even younger and impressionable people. Noone seems to be learning respect for boundaries and personal preference and innate sexuality anymore It's all BOW TO ME! LOOK AT ME! SHUT UP!

Yeah the duck happened to consent? no means no?

 

[2020two]

Yeah the duck happened to consent? no means no?

No is a complete sentence. Would you sleep with a transwoman? No. End of conversation. No need for further discussion or explanation.

The rapey under tone is so unacceptable. It feels very incel, you must duck me or it's a literal hate crime. Madness.

 

[barmj]

Wales elects the world's first openly non-binary city mayor

Owen J. Hurcum has just been elected the youngest mayor in Welsh history and the first openly non-binary mayor of any city in the world.

www.gaytimes.co.uk

Still a male. How is this better or more impressive than Joanne Anderson, the first black female mayor of Liverpool? Female mayors are rare (correct me if I’m wrong!) but sure, let’s fawn over the penis-haver with green hair because they say they have no gender. Ok butt!

When I came out two years ago I was so worried I’d be ostracized by my community or worse. Today my community elected me mayor of our great city.

Ostracised for what exactly? I want to know what actual oppression NBs face. Being ridiculed =/= oppression. Also, this person is male bodied!

I find it hard to be GC on twitter because I have a lot of mutuals with them (Hurcum).

 

[CosmicCreepers]

Oh ffs people need to seriously grow up if you aren’t attracted to/enjoy being intimate with a sexual organ you’re now transphobic?! It’s disgusting how little representation lesbians get nowadays as it is compared to trans people.

Right okay then let’s arrest everyone who doesn’t like both male or female sexual organs cause they’re transphobes then. This is getting very boring, Twitter.

 

[Aye Up]

The tit I see more and more!

If I read it right basically animals are non binary too

 

[barmj]

Apparently that non-binary person wasn’t being serious in their tweet, was more of a tongue in cheek thing, like “oh this doesn’t apply to me so that means I don’t have to listen ”

If that was the case, why tag the company? And joke or not, the company still pandered to them with a snivelling apology and not long after, dismissed a wheelchair user when they asked about accessibility. It’s all attention seeking, tbh. Makes me fume that people with actual issues are being ignored (not new but it’s blatant) so we can fall over ourselves to make sure snowflakes don’t get their feelings hurt, ffs. Performative allyship can duck off.

@Aye Up LOL sex binary still exists within the animal kingdom. And funnily enough, male animals know they need to mate with the opposite sex to reproduce, and are able to achieve this without communication (in a human sense!)

Why are people determined to rewrite history and science? Are they terrified of being mediocre otherwise?