Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!aero-c!nadel From: dawn@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Dawn Owens) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: "Woman" or "Girl"? Message-ID: <1991May14.234601.25254@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: 14 May 91 23:46:01 GMT References: <1991May13.223727.8721@aero.org> Sender: news@aero.org Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 33 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Status: R Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org mlm@cs.brown.edu (Moises Lejter) writes: >The problem, as I see it, is that in English there is no word in >common use that "fits" between "boy" and "man" (or "girl" and >"woman"). Actually, there IS a word in common use that fits between "boy" and "man". I bet it is the word you use yourself: "guy". But there is still no word to bridge the gap between childhood and adulthood for females. It seems to me that these are the most commonly used terms: Males Females Childhood Boy Girl Young Adulthood Guy Girl Adulthood Man (or Guy) Woman (or Lady or Girl) It isn't a very parallel system. A female can be called by the childhood name Girl at any age. It is very rare to hear an adult male referred to by the childhood name Boy, except as a racially derogatory term for an adult African American male, or in certain phrases like "old boys' network". I sympathize with the woman who felt awkward calling herself a woman. I felt awkward when I first began calling myself a woman also (at about age 19). It doesn't make things easier that there is no young adult term for females. But I knew it was the correct thing to do. I knew that my peers and I were adult women, not girls, so I persevered through the awkwardness, and in no time (2 weeks or so) I was very comfortable with it. I am 27 now, and I absolutely cringe when someone calls me a girl. Dawn