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An appeal to 19th century cultural norms is less than helpful when considering whether a turn of phrase is sexist.
by RyanMcGreal 14y ago
An appeal to 19th century cultural norms is less than helpful when considering whether a turn of phrase is sexist.
- nicholassmith 14y agoI don't believe it is cultural, I believe it was based off shortening 'mankind' to 'man'. However, I'm not a linguistics specialist and have no idea the roots of the phrase, but I've come across it in many contexts.
- joshka 14y ago... and yet by 21st century cultural norms the word 'man' is still not considered sexist by many. Besides, strictly from an etymological perspective you should not be calling for the eradication of the 'man' when used to speak of the species, rather you should call for a prefix to be used when talking of the gender (e.g. werman).