barbaral@tekig1.UUCP (Barbara Lee) (12/07/83)
I am female and I don't particularly care if I'm referred to a woman or girl or lady. Amongst the women I know, ironically, it seems that the ones who are screaming the loudest about such issues as "woman vs. girl" "he/she" "chairperson/chairman" etc. are the very same ones who won't change a lite bulb, would have no idea how to change a flat tire (and aren't interested in learning), and seem to play the helpless female and yell "women's lib" at the same time. I'm not saying this is true of all females who speak out about women's issues, but it does seem true the the females I know. I prefer to speak by my example to others, not just words.
kmw@iheds.UUCP (12/10/83)
In response to: I am female and I don't particularly care if I'm referred to a woman or girl or lady. Amongst the women I know, ironically, it seems that the ones who are screaming the loudest about such issues as "woman vs. girl" "he/she" "chairperson/chairman" etc. are the very same ones who won't change a lite bulb, would have no idea how to change a flat tire (and aren't interested in learning), and seem to play the helpless female and yell "women's lib" at the same time. I'm not saying this is true of all females who speak out about women's issues, but it does seem true the the females I know. I prefer to speak by my example to others, not just words. I'm glad you are not saying this is true of all women. In my experience it is just the opposite. I am not a girl (which to me is a female child), and strongly object to being called one. To me, "women" means adult, and adult implies a certain compentence (including knowing a large subset of the every day survival skills such as tuning cars, changing tires, changing fuses, etc.). The women I know (without exception!) do object to being called "girl," and they do not play "helpless female". (In fact, one or two carry things to an extreme, feeling that they must be able to do anything themselves without anyone's help!) We obviously are in a different cultural milieu. I just didn't want net readers to believe yours was the only one that exists. K. Wilber (iheds!kmw) -- K. M. Wilber iheds!kmw or mvuxt!kw
doug@arizona.UUCP (Doug Pase) (12/12/83)
{
I am a man (subjective classification -- certainly I am male ?:-) ) and
I took an informal survey among my contemporaries here at the University
of Arizona as to which females would object to being called girls or gals.
A few preferred not to be called girls or gals, but wouldn't be seriously
offended if the circumstances were friendly. However, almost all claimed
that they would take offense to being called anything if the term were
intended to offend. It was the projected intention (as perceived by the
female) of the speaker that was more important than the actual term used.
Admittedly this was a very subjective experiment, no controlls whatsoever
were placed on the sub-population selection, questions asked, etc. I do
think that it serves to illustrate a good point. A well known religious
leader recently said: "He who takes offense where no offense was intended
is a fool." Think about it.
Pase
}