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From: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Newsgroups: net.women,net.flame
Subject: Re: Now is the time for all good men...
Message-ID: <388@mtxinu.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 25-May-85 13:41:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: mtxinu.388
Posted: Sat May 25 13:41:47 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 27-May-85 07:30:00 EDT
References: <742@oddjob.UUCP>
Reply-To: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Followup-To: net.women
Organization: mt Xinu, Berkeley, CA
Lines: 41
Xref: linus net.women:4848 net.flame:9282

In article <742@oddjob.UUCP> cs1@oddjob.UUCP (Cheryl Stewart) writes:
> I was serious.  I really think that the generic term for a person
> should be "man", and that the generic pronouns should be "he", "him"
> and "his". The psychology of this is phenomenally powerful...
> 
> If everyone were a "man", it would be no longer possible to speak of
> "women's work" any more than people can get away with referring to
> manual labor as "nigger's work"...
> 
> Furthermore, the use of the word "man" to refer to a human being of
> either sex would force men to consider social, financial, intellectual,
> technical and scientific accomplish- ments as something very, very
> different from simple biological endowments.  If you're the best man
> for the job, you're the best man for the job--no matter what your
> plumbing, parentage or early social environment was like...
> 
> And dammit, this is a good idea, a new idea, and a lot more worthwhile
> than than the drivel about rape and high-heel sneakers I've been
> reading about in this newsgroup lately.

It may be new idea, but I'm not sure it's a good one.  If we really
want to do away with the prejudices, choosing "man" as the generic
probably won't do it.  There are just too many people in our society
who have specific sexual and genderal associations with the word.
Perhaps, if it were to really to be used equally for about three
generations (or more), then it would work, but how do you get there
from here?

Your example of "nigger's work" illustrates my point.  It is socially
unacceptable in many circles - but *not* all - to use a phrase like
that.  Acceptable or not, many people still *think* that way.  Things
just haven't changed very much.

Seems to me, still, that a new word is needed.  It's certainly a better
topic than high-heeled sneakers.  The rape issue is an important one
(so is the shoes one, for that matter) but the current discussion has
degenerated too far.

-- 
Ed Gould		    mt Xinu, 2910 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
{ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed   +1 415 644 0146