[23465] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] Toast Song: If a male called a female a man...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Ryan Gallagher)
Sun Jan 19 11:00:25 2003
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 10:57:32 -0500
Reply-To: Michael Ryan Gallagher <famtree@UDel.Edu>
From: Michael Ryan Gallagher <famtree@UDel.Edu>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
I have seen "she" used. This I think is trying to use it as a gender
neutral term or if "he" was not used as such, to try to balance usage.
"They" is incorrect in this case. Can you give examples of languages that
use "he" as gender neutral. I do know that in French, "his" and "her" are
the same word, which confuses native Anglophones and forces everyone to look
for subjects or objects but the word varies with plurality and gender of the
noun being referred to. For example, "ses lunettes" "his (or her)
eyeglasses, "sa montre" "his (or her) watch."
Michael Gallagher
Zeta Sigma
PoliSci & French Studies double major
----- Original Message -----
From: "Philip Harvey" <pharvey@nycap.rr.com>
To: <APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: [APO-L] Toast Song: If a male called a female a man...
> Irwin Chui wrote:
> >
> > Hello, Everyone
> >
> > I often here this during Toast Song discussions and debates. A female
> > Brother quotes "I am proud to be called a man."
>
> I don't think I've ever heard any of our female brothers say that
> particular quote. though I assume you meant "I am proud to be called a
> brother."
>
> Someone (Chris Tracy I believe) suggested imagining if the Toast Song
> had always been "women of" instead of "men of." I do see a difference
> in our language between calling a group of men and women "men" and
> calling a group of men and women "women." In the english language, and
> other languages, the masculine form of the word is often used as the
> gender neutral form also. In writings, you'll often see the word "he"
> to not specifically mean male or female, though we're starting to see
> "they" used singularly more often. We're also seeing "s/he" once in a
> while, and a few philosophy professors I've had regularly used "she" to
> denote "he or she". Those last two annoy me a bit. the first because
> it looks cluttered, and the second because I always felt that it was an
> incorrect use of the term. Not because I felt that I was being called a
> woman, but because "she" has never been a gender neutral term before.
> "She" has meant "that woman over there."
>
> I still haven't really said what, if anything, I think should be done
> with the toast song... ok, here's what I thi
>
