mcardle@apolloway.prl.philips.nl (Owen McArdle) (09/19/90)
Hi folks, I've been skulking around in the background for a while, and as a result of the current girls/women debate I have a related question - about the usage of the term `coed'. As far as I understand the term (it seems to be peculiarly N.American in usage) it simply means female student. The origin would appear to stem from the time that schools/colleges changed from single-sex to co-educational, the women who then found their way into the previously all-male institutions being tagged as the `coeds' - am I right so far ? (As an aside, how come the men going to previously all-female institutions escaped - or didn't they ? I've never heard an equivalent being used) Anyway, to get to the point (finally, I hear you say :-), every time I hear this term being used the old shackles rise & my blood temp along with them, as I read an implication that female students are somehow `different'. That _they_ are not the real students, but simply a sop to the co-educational system, so to speak. Now I may simply be over- reacting to to a (cultural) difference in language usage (but then the girl/woman debate would seem to provide a welcome precedent for this), and this may be acceptable in all the best (American) homes, but I'd just like to find out how this is viewed by all these people who have such _strong_ opinions about the proper nomenclature for the female population in _all_ social situations... and any others who've managed to stay awake this far :-). Reactions ?? (Note, follow-ups directed to soc.feminism) PS. Apologies for all the brackets, currently undergoing lisp de-toxification :-(). PPS. Save bandwidth - email flames. Owen P.McArdle || e-mail : mcardle@apolloway.prl.philips.nl Philips Research Labs. || 'phone : +31-40-742824 Eindhoven || quote : "Oh no, not again"