I am not a guy
or a dude or a kind of a man! Cirque Du Soleil has a new show. The TV advertisement proclaims it is the history of "mankind." Enough! It is not just his/story. It is her/story too. On a recent trip to Victoria's Secret I heard a young woman say, "dude, look at this bra." I looked up to see a young woman talking to another young woman. They have embraced their own erasure using male generic language.
If I approach a group of mixed gender and say, "Hi gals" are the male members of the group going to think I am talking to them? Are they going to feel insulted because they have been greeted using female generic language. Of course it is not generic and when mixed gender or single gender groups are referenced as guys or dudes or mankind the female gender is eclipsed.
I cringe whenever I hear someone say to a mixed gender group: "Hey, you guys!" Shamefully, I have also uttered this phrase - my mouth working faster than my brain.
ReplyDeleteI have wondered when and how this male generic language first came into use. I figure it has existed for at least 40 years; I read that "Hey, you guys!" was shouted out to viewers at the beginning of the PBS children's educational television program, "The Electric Company" (first airing in 1971).
Unfortunately, there exists in English no plural form of you. It does in German, and English is a Germanic language! Some people use the term,
"(all) y'all", which is gender neutral.
Interestingly enough, Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) defines "gurl" as: "A young person of either sex."
Hi Hilary,
ReplyDeleteI went to see the Man of Steel movie yesterday. It was prefaced with a car commercial that claimed their cars were made for "Mankind." Wish I could remember the name of the company, I would write to them. I like Good Morning America but this morning I sent them a tweet asking that they quit using male gendered language as generic language. Tomorrow I plan to Facebook KTLA on the same issue. I thanked a woman reporter for saying, "you all" instead of, "you guys" at the end of her report. A man commented back in part, " Are you going to say, 'oh girl, oh girl' instead of 'oh boy' when you are excited and rename hurricanes himicanes. Among other comments, I registered my surprise that gratitude offered to the woman reporter appeared to bother him.
Hi Paula, I e-mailed you an article regarding the "Made for Mankind" auto ad campaign. Because this slogan makes me wonder if the car is also made for womankind, i.e. me, I consider this ad campaign to be ineffective - to say the least.
ReplyDeleteWith reference to the man's comments in response to your expression of gratitude, I believe that sarcasm reveals insecurity.
For using social media to voice your opinion(s) and possibly effect change, you are a shero!