Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site unc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!unc!fsks From: fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: Now is the time for all good men... Message-ID: <340@unc.UUCP> Date: Wed, 29-May-85 12:54:51 EDT Article-I.D.: unc.340 Posted: Wed May 29 12:54:51 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 31-May-85 06:22:01 EDT References: <742@oddjob.UUCP> Reply-To: fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann) Organization: CS Dept., U. of N. Carolina at Chapel Hill Lines: 33 Summary: >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... In article ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould) writes: >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? The idea is not new. Many years ago, the word "man" referred only to adult WHITE males. Adult black males were called "boy." Instead of coming up with a new word that would include blacks, we altered the meaning of the word "man" to refer to adult black males, as well as whites. Maybe we should alter the word again to cover ALL adults. It worked before. It should work again. :-), of course. Frank Silbermann