E-Portfolio Sexist Language, Megan Perras

As a budding female/lady journalist I have been thinking a lot about the question of male versus female word usages in writing. When I am speaking of a general person/per-daughter, what consequences are attached to using a his verses a her pronoun, or a she verses a he? As a wo-man/wo-person/wo-per-daughter of the present times, do I have a problem with the word wo-man, or the generalization that is “mankind?” Should the chairman of the company be referred to as the chairperson? Or better yet, the chair-per-daughter?

Personally, I don`t really find any of these words offensive, maybe just a little outdated, as we are in a time where either a man or a woman can lead a company to success.

Is this word nitpicking turning us into proverbial slaves to detail? Is it creating a gap between the his-tory/ her-story of our very language?

Maybe these sexist words provide us with a reminder to see just how far wo-men, girl-people, whatever, have come as far as equality rights go. That is not such a bad thing- just seeing how much of a stink people are making about “sexist words” gives you an idea of how equal women/wo-people are now, in comparison to when we had to fight to be heard in the job market, or had to fight to get paid the same as a male person/per-daughter doing the same job.

In closing, I think that no one should be too upset with those who choose to use predominantly male pronouns, or the word women or person, etc. It is part of the HIStory of our language, not a personal attack at woMEN.

Sexist words and some alternatives if you so choose: http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/23sexism/sexist.html

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