Girl

[prog]

Already rethinking earlier statement about the word "girl". To go against college-indoctrinated language lessons feels like a tiny act of sacrilege, and invites a deal of internal debate. Here is an excerpt:

jmac: After all, there are plenty of contexts where I could legitimately use "boy" in reference to an adult male.

strange interlocutor: Fair enough, but what about that context in the cafe? if you'd been served your coffee by a man, would you have written "the boy who..."? No, you'd have written "the guy who...", and I resist your sexist equivalence of the ambiguous "guy" with the diminutive "girl". Shame shame shame on you.

jmac: [Mumbles, shuffles feet.]

This is an old argument and I back away from having an official opinion on it for today.

Comments

[mrmorse.livejournal.com]

This is evidence of my own programming more than anything else, but the use of "boy" to refer to an adult sets off possible racism flags in my head. There are obvious power and race issues in the historical use of "boy" when speaking to black men.

Of course, it depends on usage. There are certainly cases where "boy" isn't racist and there are probably cases where "girl" isn't sexist, but both words set off all sorts of warnings in my head.

Then again, I do sometimes use "girl" to refer to an adult woman. But it almost always makes me uncomfortable when I do.

I'm with you on the mumbling and lack of official opinions.