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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!rochester!ritcv!ccieng5!ccieng2!kfk
From: kfk@ccieng2.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: woman, girls, boys & men
Message-ID: <206@ccieng5.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 16-Dec-83 12:39:44 EST
Article-I.D.: ccieng5.206
Posted: Fri Dec 16 12:39:44 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Dec-83 08:26:23 EST
Lines: 24


	From ihuxq!ken:
	Clearly, the term "girl" when referring to a woman IS
	offensive.  A girl is a young, but more importantly,
	POWERLESS woman.  To call a woman "girl" is to say
	"you are powerless, as you ought to be."  & analogously
	for calling a Black man "boy".  It sure is gentlemanly of
	some big, brave, macho studs on the net not to mind being
	called "boy".  But then men don't have to mind--
	we have all the power in this society.   Men who want
	to work toward a more egalitarian society will have to stop
	hiding behind their dictionaries.  And that's the truth, Jack.
----------
No, it is not clear, and I doubt it's the truth.

I'm not a big, brave, macho stud, but I still haven't got any parti-
cular complaint about being called "boy."  I don't think it's being
gentlemanly; I just am not concerned about such trivial things.  If
it becomes clear that it is intended to be offensive, then I might be
upset.  Generally, though, those who would use it as an insult aren't
worth the energy it takes to be upset with them.

Karl Kleinpaste
...![ [seismo, allegra]!rochester!ritcv, rlgvax]!ccieng5!ccieng2[!:]kfk