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From: tims@mako.UUCP (Tim Stoehr)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: sexism in language
Message-ID: <62@mako.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Apr-84 12:40:13 EST
Article-I.D.: mako.62
Posted: Thu Apr 12 12:40:13 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Apr-84 01:19:25 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 15

Many words have multiple meanings.  "Man" means either an adult male
or the human species.  Like other homonyms, one must judge by context
which meaning applies.  That is part of our language understanding
abilities.
Yes, undertones of maleness do come in, but I don't believe this is
due to terminology, but rather it stems from the fact that we live
in a male dominated world.  I believe that if we were in a female
dominated world with the same language and terminology, then the
male undertones would be replaced by female undertones.  Similarly,
if you change the terminology in the world as it is today, the
undertones of maleness would remain.
In other words, these masculine undertones are not a product of our
language, but of our society.  Changing the language would be a
very shallow and meaningless victory, although on the surface it
might appear pleasing, it would not solve anything.