When did "woman" become an adjective?

What about manservant? (Not that anyone outside of a book would use that word.) Servanthood (servitude?) sounds like it used to be an enlightened egalitarian profession, as far as genders/sexes, with equal mention of both men and maids.
 
AnonyMoose said:
It's always been that way. Probably going all the way back to the very first time a caveman backhanded a cavewoman for daring to form an opinion that goes against his.

The only time woman/female isn't used as a descriptive is when we're talking about anything that has always been commonly accepted as a "woman's place" throughout the ages. ie: Teacher, nurse, secretary, maid, housekeeper, cook, prostitute. You'll never see any of those being used as "girl nurse", "female teacher", "woman prostitute". Anything beyond those handful of professions that women were allowed to do outside of the home had to then be separated from their male counterparts so as to add emphasis on the 'oddness' of a female being a lawyer, a doctor, a politician.

Why is a female thesbian known as an "actress" instead of just an "actor"? Why must society invent a new word to separate one from the other? Waiter/waitress? Host/hostess? Hero/heroine? What the hell is the difference? They're both doing the exact same job, are they not?

You'd think in today's world these divisive gender descriptives would finally become redundant, but apparently society is still having great difficulty letting go of its male dominion and thus, still can't quite fully grasp that a pilot is a pilot is a pilot, no matter if said pilot stands or sits to pee.

Some day in a future world, a long long long long long time from now.... A lawyer that has a vagina will just simply be a known as a "lawyer", a doctor that has a uterus will just simply be a known as a "doctor", a hero that has a pair of boobs will just simply be known as a "hero". And a nurse that has a penis will just simply be known as a "nurse".

But until then, society insists that we all continue to be pigeon-holed based on whether we have an outie or an innie, whether we're the pitcher or the catcher. With the former still being viewed as dominating over the latter. "Stop being such a (weak) pussy and grow a pair of (strong) balls." :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It's already changing, albeit slowly. "Heroine", in particular, is becoming pretty uncommon, and "actor" as a gender-neutral term seems to be picking up steam.
 
ZirconBlue said:
It's already changing, albeit slowly. "Heroine", in particular, is becoming pretty uncommon, and "actor" as a gender-neutral term seems to be picking up steam.
Click to expand...

Yup, and it's been happening for a while. "Authoress" sounds very strange to modern ears, but it used to be the approved term, as was "poetess". "Aviatrix" has already been mentioned in this thread.

And, of course, gender-neutral terms are becoming more common across the board. "Flight attendant" as opposed to "steward/ess", for example, or "server" as opposed to "waiter/waitress".

At some point in the future "actress" will seem just as odd and antiquated as "editress" and "proprietrix" do today.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
Yup, and it's been happening for a while. "Authoress" sounds very strange to modern ears, but it used to be the approved term, as was "poetess". "Aviatrix" has already been mentioned in this thread.

And, of course, gender-neutral terms are becoming more common across the board. "Flight attendant" as opposed to "steward/ess", for example, or "server" as opposed to "waiter/waitress".

At some point in the future "actress" will seem just as odd and antiquated as "editress" and "proprietrix" do today.
Click to expand...

What about "dominatrix"? I believe that word benefits from the added information conveyed by the sex-specific ending.
 
How quickly people forget "man splaining" and "manterruption"

Quite funny though as it is just blokes and no one gives a ****
 
Should point out my wife often women splains to me.

I don't care. She is usually right.
 
AnonyMoose said:
It's always been that way. Probably going all the way back to the very first time a caveman backhanded a cavewoman for daring to form an opinion that goes against his.



The only time woman/female isn't used as a descriptive is when we're talking about anything that has always been commonly accepted as a "woman's place" throughout the ages. ie: Teacher, nurse, secretary, maid, housekeeper, cook, prostitute. You'll never see any of those being used as "girl nurse", "female teacher", "woman prostitute". Anything beyond those handful of professions that women were allowed to do outside of the home had to then be separated from their male counterparts so as to add emphasis on the 'oddness' of a female being a lawyer, a doctor, a politician.



Why is a female thesbian known as an "actress" instead of just an "actor"? Why must society invent a new word to separate one from the other? Waiter/waitress? Host/hostess? Hero/heroine? What the hell is the difference? They're both doing the exact same job, are they not?



You'd think in today's world these divisive gender descriptives would finally become redundant, but apparently society is still having great difficulty letting go of its male dominion and thus, still can't quite fully grasp that a pilot is a pilot is a pilot, no matter if said pilot stands or sits to pee.



Some day in a future world, a long long long long long time from now.... A lawyer that has a vagina will just simply be a known as a "lawyer", a doctor that has a uterus will just simply be a known as a "doctor", a hero that has a pair of boobs will just simply be known as a "hero". And a nurse that has a penis will just simply be known as a "nurse".



But until then, society insists that we all continue to be pigeon-holed based on whether we have an outie or an innie, whether we're the pitcher or the catcher. With the former still being viewed as dominating over the latter. "Stop being such a (weak) pussy and grow a pair of (strong) balls." :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

My doctor is just my doctor and she is very good.

I actually think most people already get this.
 
A number of female science fiction authors adopted male (or neutral) pen names as “women don’t write science fiction”.... Again, something that seems to be changing slowly.
 
Bikewer said:
A number of female science fiction authors adopted male (or neutral) pen names as “women don’t write science fiction”.... Again, something that seems to be changing slowly.
Click to expand...

Slowly? Women have been major science fiction authors all my life. Anne McCaffery, Octavia Butler, Patricia McKillip, Ursula LeGuin, CJ Cherryh, Connie Willis, Lois Bujold...
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
And, of course, gender-neutral terms are becoming more common across the board. "Flight attendant" as opposed to "steward/ess", for example, or "server" as opposed to "waiter/waitress".
Click to expand...
Not to mention:

Aviator/Aviatrix → Pilot

Anchorwoman/Anchorman → Anchor

Barmaid/Barman → Bartender

Comedian/Comedienne → Comic

Fireman/Firewoman → Firefighter

Masseuse/Masseur → Massage Therapist

Mailman/Mailwoman → Courier

Policewoman/Policeman → Police Officer

Saleswoman/Salesman → Salesperson

Watchman/Watchwoman → Security Guard
 
theprestige said:
Slowly? Women have been major science fiction authors all my life. Anne McCaffery, Octavia Butler, Patricia McKillip, Ursula LeGuin, CJ Cherryh, Connie Willis, Lois Bujold...
Click to expand...


When I was young, women SF writers were far more the exception rather than common. More than a few used pen names which concealed their gender specifically because it was recognized that as women their books would be less marketable.

It was refreshing to see this change over time. I am pleased that such obfuscation of their gender is no longer needed.
 
Silly Green Monkey said:
Have you heard of Andre Norton?
Click to expand...

Yes. And James Tiptree, Jr. And C. L. Moore. And Leigh Bracket.

I think you are probably saying something interesting here, but I can't figure out what it is.

For my part, I'm saying that while there have been some notable women in SF writing under male or gender-ambiguous pseudonyms in the past, it's been a while since that's been a typical practice in the industry.

And note that Moore obfuscated her name not to hide her gender, but to hide her writing gig from her regular employer.
 
alfaniner said:
I've noticed this usage a lot lately. Usually used in the context of "a woman politician", "a woman athlete", etc, or as below in the picture. It just sounds really odd to me.
Click to expand...

Yes "a woman politician" sounds really ugly, aesthetically speaking here, but ultimately your incredulity comes from your lack of exposure to the term and consequently not being used to them. Are you really surprised that terminology change as people seek to be inclusive towards trans-women or is this just another excuse for the resident transphobes to bitch and cry like usual?
 
For a non-dated "when", women were designated as "woman [profession]" when they began moving into public spaces that had been entirely male dominated. Like 'coed' (short for co-education) for young women in college instead of "student". The speaker's way of saying "hey, these particular people aren't actually male like you would normally think".

For the authors, it's because women have been notably writing under male pseudonyms not that long ago. I grew up reading both male and female, but much more male writers than female (as far as I knew).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom