jbf@ccieng5.UUCP (Jens Bernhard Fiederer) (04/24/84)
Subject: Re: Sexist Language
/* I am afraid I deleted jeanine's userid at watmath before mailing this */
/* Here it goes to the net */
I don't think you have to worry about feeling 'left out' -- I rarely refer
to either 'women' or 'girls' except in an oblique way ("I am going to the
local disco to stare at 'girls'" or "I go out with my girlfriend" rather
than the woman alternative). If I were to address you personally, I would
say 'jeanine' rather than 'girl' or 'woman'.
Nobody has ever complained about an actual instance of my usage, so I
doubt it is worth changing. I simply wrote the article to point out
one reason why one might prefer one usage over another -- naturalness
of use.
Azhrarn
--
"Some people are eccentric, but I am just plain odd"
Reachable as
....allegra![rayssd,rlgvax]!ccieng5!jbf