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Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 7 days ago)
35,630 posts, read 17,968,125 times
Reputation: 50652
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RocketDawg
Yes it has. And there's such a thing as hypersensitivity.
There's such a thing as blindness and entitlement. If you're a man, (which is less than half of the adult population) and so you think "man" should be interpreted to mean women too, and women should be perfectly fine with being addressed as men.
The military used to be men, with very few exceptions.
Now, it's men and women.
Why should a woman be called an Airman? I don't know a good term off the bat, but the army and marines have good terms handy that they've been using the whole time.
So. Question. Do you want to ban women from the military, hearkening back to heritage and tradition, and likely forcing the reinstatement of the draft since we won't have enough military personnel?
I don't.
And actually, apparently, "the RIGHT is finding out the hard way".
so if you want to get rid of/change the term "airman"...should we then not change the term "woman"
if "male" bothers you, then shouldn't "female" bother you too
If I see a female full bird Colonel (O-6), am I not to say "Good Morning Ma'am" , and instead say "good Morning, Sir".... or should I disrespect them and not say anything
If they really want a gender-neutral term for Airman, how about Flyer? Sure, not everyone in the Air Force actually flies planes. But not every person in the Navy is an enlisted crewperson on a ship either, yet a Navy person is called a Sailor.
As for gender-neutral citations, that's ridiculous. A specific person should be referred to by their specific pronoun. Period.
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 7 days ago)
35,630 posts, read 17,968,125 times
Reputation: 50652
Quote:
Originally Posted by bus man
If they really want a gender-neutral term for Airman, how about Flyer? Sure, not everyone in the Air Force actually flies planes. But not every person in the Navy is an enlisted crewperson on a ship either, yet a Navy person is called a Sailor.
As for gender-neutral citations, that's ridiculous. A specific person should be referred to by their specific pronoun. Period.
There's such a thing as blindness and entitlement. If you're a man, (which is less than half of the adult population) and so you think "man" should be interpreted to mean women too, and women should be perfectly fine with being addressed as men.
I see your point... I've been blind and entitled for too long. Maybe they should change it to "airman" and "airwoman"? No, that's not right... it still has "man" in "woman". How about "airman" and "airbirthingperson"? (I think I just made up a word!)
"Man" has never been a gender nonspecific term. People just haven't insisted on acknowledging women, as they are now insisting on that.
It's been a LONG time since I've been to a wedding with the long-held traditional send off, "I now pronounce you man and wife". Man and his appendage, basically is what that was saying. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Smith. Hello, where did the woman GO? She doesn't even have a name! She's now Mrs Harold Smith.
Now, it's, with the power vested in me by ___, I pronounce you married.
Times, they are a'changin'.
Actually, man WAS originally a gender nonspecific term meaning 'person' and that remained its primary meaning for hundreds of years. For most of its history it has had the parallel meaning of people in general AND specifically male people. It is only very recently that the general non-gender specific meaning has fallen away.
I actually agree with your main point here - 'man' in modern usage refers to males, so it makes sense to use a more gender neutral term for a profession in which there are both men and women - just pointing out it is not so straightforward with the history of the word 'man'.
The headline of the cited Fox News article indicates that it's "suggested", but the first line of the story makes it seem like an order. Not clear which it is, but basically, the Air Force wants to use "they" instead of he/him or she/her in citations. Going a little too far in my opinion.
Because that's the military service she joined. One where Airman denotes everyone.
When I was in the Air Force, the go to response for anyone complaining was "no one forced you to join." And they were exactly right.
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