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Do you also greet your mother with "Hey dad", or do you refer to her by a different word because of her gender?

• flukus 10y ago
  Of course I don't. But Mum's job was to stay at home, look after the kids and have dinner on the table at 6pm. That was a very gendered households, not uncommon at the time. Are you saying that this gendered language should continue?
  • Manishearth 10y ago
    No. But using the wrong gendered language for someone is still bad. In fact, this is why in general lots of folks advocate for the usage of singular "they" when speaking of people with unknown gender. This is the problem with "hey guys" in the first place; there are gender neutral ways of addressing groups of people. Yet you are choosing the non gender neutral way of doing it. You haven't been arguing against gendered language here, you're arguing for using gendered language -- just gendered language for the same gender -- for everyone, when gender-neutral language has existed for centuries. ----- Equality is about treating men and women the same. Having women feel like a fish out of the water by having their identity rejected is not the same. Having women feel like their identity is being rejected is not the same. Equality does not mean rejecting individuality. Equality is not assuming that everyone is Bob and has the same personality, emotions, and gender as Bob. That's unfair to people who aren't Bob. Equality is treating them the same, or more specifically not treating someone worse because of an aspect of their existence that they have little control over. You can and should still respect their identity.