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Yale changes class names to be gender neutral

Sherkeu

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Sherkeu
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From here.

This type of change had not even occurred to me. Congressman and Postman feel male but somehow freshman doesn't, like mankind doesn't - probably because I have been in those groups.

Freshwoman sounds catchy!

Are there more terms that we don't think twice about that will be changed? I can't think of any, but I didn't think of this one either.

After beginning to roll out the new terminology in formal correspondence early last spring, University administrators have now begun the process of replacing the terms “freshman” and “upperclassman” with the gender-neutral terms “first year” and “upper-level students” in official campus publications, such as the Undergraduate Regulations and the First-Year Handbook.

Chun emphasized that the memo was distributed to notify faculty and staff how the administration now refers to its students, without attempting to dictate to recipients that they use any specific terminology.
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Sherkeu said:
From here.

This type of change had not even occurred to me. Congressman and Postman feel male but somehow freshman doesn't, like mankind doesn't - probably because I have been in those groups.

Freshwoman sounds catchy!

Are there more terms that we don't think twice about that will be changed? I can't think of any, but I didn't think of this one either.
Click to expand...

'Midwife' will have to change to 'midspouse'.

'Husbandry' to 'spousery'

Is that the kind of thing you were looking for? ;)
 
GlennB said:
'Midwife' will have to change to 'midspouse'.

'Husbandry' to 'spousery'

Is that the kind of thing you were looking for? ;)
Click to expand...

Exactly! Had not thought of those quite common ones.

I looked up what male midwives call themselves and it turns out the name is the same. Mid= with Wife= woman, so the wife part is always a woman (for now!).

Ditto for husbandry. hus means house and the term means housefarmer.

Should the origin of a term matter for the purpose of neutrality? The modern 'sense' of the word would seem to be the priority for what they are trying to do even if it didn't mean what we think it means.
 
Sherkeu said:
From here.

This type of change had not even occurred to me. Congressman and Postman feel male but somehow freshman doesn't, like mankind doesn't - probably because I have been in those groups.

Freshwoman sounds catchy!

Are there more terms that we don't think twice about that will be changed? I can't think of any, but I didn't think of this one either.
Click to expand...

Fireman - firefighter
signalman - signaller

In the day (and it was too) I suggested "signal operative" nobody liked it and it was changed back to signalman <smh>
 
Actually, I don't care. The same debate came up when fire departments opened their ranks to women. "Firewoman" didn't exactly roll-off the tongue, so they changed the name to "firefighter". That's OK with me, as long as they are describing the same job.

ETA: Journeyman?
 
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BobTheCoward said:
Yeoman?
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Depends upon who you ask. Did a Trekkie in the 60's ever associate the yeoman rate with anyone but a woman? I've yet to meet a female yeoman in the American submarine force. Plenty of them in the shore and surface navy though :)

Ranb
 
Sherkeu said:
Exactly! Had not thought of those quite common ones.

I looked up what male midwives call themselves and it turns out the name is the same. Mid= with Wife= woman, so the wife part is always a woman (for now!).

Ditto for husbandry. hus means house and the term means housefarmer.
Click to expand...

I learned something, cheers! So the terms are actually gender neutral, when you get to the etymology.

Sherkeu said:
Should the origin of a term matter for the purpose of neutrality? The modern 'sense' of the word would seem to be the priority for what they are trying to do even if it didn't mean what we think it means.
Click to expand...

That's a whole can of worms.
 
Sherkeu said:
Should the origin of a term matter for the purpose of neutrality? The modern 'sense' of the word would seem to be the priority for what they are trying to do even if it didn't mean what we think it means.
Click to expand...


I'm a pretty progressive person, but I think the origin, so to speak, should matter. Not every "man" in a word is a reference to the male gender.
 
Sherkeu said:
From here.

This type of change had not even occurred to me. Congressman and Postman feel male but somehow freshman doesn't, like mankind doesn't - probably because I have been in those groups.

Freshwoman sounds catchy!

Are there more terms that we don't think twice about that will be changed? I can't think of any, but I didn't think of this one either.
Click to expand...

With regards the change mentioned in the OP, it makes perfect sense, as for the other thing I do remember a cartoon from back when Political Correctness first appeared where the dialog went something like this:

1: "We're Women"
2: "You can't say that, it's sexist"
1: "We're WoPeople"
 
I hope they will study Theirtory or even Theirstory using the gender neutral third person pronoun instead of the male one.
 
GlennB said:
Sherkeu said:
Exactly! Had not thought of those quite common ones.

I looked up what male midwives call themselves and it turns out the name is the same. Mid= with Wife= woman, so the wife part is always a woman (for now!).

Ditto for husbandry. hus means house and the term means housefarmer.
Click to expand...

I learned something, cheers! So the terms are actually gender neutral, when you get to the etymology.

Sherkeu said:
Should the origin of a term matter for the purpose of neutrality? The modern 'sense' of the word would seem to be the priority for what they are trying to do even if it didn't mean what we think it means.
Click to expand...

That's a whole can of worms.
Click to expand...
They aren't gender neutral. A midwife is a woman who is with another woman when she is giving birth. A husband was originally the male head of household.
 
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