So I'm reading this book of feminist essays, appropriately titled 'Bitchfest,' and the last essay I read was about the phrase 'you guys.' Now, I understand her point of view, that she doesn't like to use the phrase and doesn't like it to be used in reference to a group of women...but then she started talking about how English was patriarchial and how English needed a gender-neutral word to discuss a group of people...this is where she lost me.
She lost me mostly because in other languages, such as Spanish and Hebrew (really, the only teo others that I have any experience with), a group always takes on a masculine identity, even if there is only one man. In Spanish, muchachos y muchachas becomes 'muchachos' which can be translated to mean just 'boys' or 'kids.' In Hebrew (please bear with my Hebr-ish here)the word for boy is 'yeled' and the word for girl is 'yeldah' and the suffix 'im' is masculine and the suffix 'ot' is feminine. Children then become 'yeladim.'
Point being, it's not only English that refers to a group of people with a word that has masculine connotation. For myself, when I address a group of women (be it my book club, or friend) I usually say 'Ladies' (some say 'girls' but that annoys me more than 'you guys,' but I think that's a whole other megilah)...I also use 'everyone.'
I understand why these words irritate feminists...and although it's a concern, we might, at this point, have bigger fish to fry...
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