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From: bing@galbp.UUCP (Bing Bang)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: The Great Sexist Language Debate
Message-ID: <145@galbp.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 27-May-85 02:52:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: galbp.145
Posted: Mon May 27 02:52:07 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 29-May-85 23:52:23 EDT
References: <2221@decwrl.UUCP> <>
Reply-To: bing@galbp.UUCP (Bing Bang)
Organization: Lanier Business Products, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
Lines: 30
Summary: 


i have sat through hundreds of articles on this subject and, for
what it's worth, here are my thoughts. please refrain
from flaming, as my asbestoes suit is at the cleaners...
and my hapless ego is exposed...

first of all, i  think changing the language is curing the symptoms
and not the problem. the real problem with words like "fireman" and
"postman" is that the image they create in most people has a great
sexual bias. i suggest changing these words so that they do not have
"man" suffixes will not change this sexual bias. i can attempt to
back my claim by asking which sex do most people think of when words
like "taxi driver" or "cop" are used.

the real problem is and always has been one of perception, not merely
what letters a word is composed of.

and the real cure is a change in the perception of the words, not the
words themselves.

in other words, if a word is perceived to stand  for both sexes equally,
then who cares how it is spelled?




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"Is anything really real?"
...akgua!galbp!bing