Peter Wynn
2 min readJun 26, 2022

--

Well said! And here's something that I remember from my early university days, where we were told not to use gendered language, but where it can backfire. We were told to say police officer rather than policeman or policewoman, and to that, I say, fair enough. One area, though, where I say it's a double-edged sword, is that we were told not to say things like, "Female Doctor," "Lady Lawyer," or "Male Nurse," as it suggested that the roles were not typically held by that sex. The problem with that is, yes, it des have that implication, but, let's take this sentence: "Dr. Chen is a female doctor," on the one hand, it can imply that the role of a doctor is not typically held by a female (I hate it when I say to the manager at the Day Infusion Centre that I saw my gastroenterologist, and she'd reply, "And what did he say?" "My gastroenterologist is a she." "Oh, okay." The nurse has made an ASSUMPTION that my gastroenterologist is male, when my gastroenterologist is female, so, "What did THEY say?" would be more appropriate and he is sexist. Whereas if a person rings up a Medical Centre and says, "I would like to see a female doctor, please," and the receptionist says, "Yes, Dr. Chen is a female doctor," that is specifying that Dr. Chen is an option.

Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists are wrong when they say that transwomen are men and they are invading women's spaces. There argument is akin to suggesting that a Chinese immigrant shouldn't learn to speak English if they live in a country where English is the predominant language.

--

--

Peter Wynn
Peter Wynn

Written by Peter Wynn

Diagnosed with autism at 35. Explained a lifetime of difference.

No responses yet