Are you serious right now? You can't be serious right now.
You people see sexism in literally everything. It's just a phrase, nothing more. Yes, the origins of this are probably connected to "courage=manliness", but in our modern society, the origins are forgotten and the only thing that remains is the phrase that doesn't have anything to do with actual manly parts anymore. Most phrases, proverbs and metaphors are connected to some kind of historical habit or ways of thinking. Complaining about people using them even though there is no sexist thought behind it is not very clever.
While I would agree that language evolves over time, the origin of phrases is important. Whether it bothers you or not, the fact that it bothers some people and that a gender-neutral option exists should make it pretty easy.
"You people" = some (quite a considerable amount actually) of FSers whose comments I had the pleasure of reading. Some were even like a bit less radical SJWs.
Yes, the origins of a phrase are a good thing to know so you don't appear ignorant or misuse the phrase, but trying to keep people from using it because of these origins, just because it might bother some people who might think it sexist, is pointless in my opinion. Yes, ignoring a problem won't make it go away, but creating a problem because of a minority of people who might get offended, especially when most of them didn't realize it until someone pointed it out, is not especially good either.
"That's so gay" was last used in like the 90's. Nobody uses that anymore because being gay isn't a bad thing.
Before I'll explain further, may I just ask: do you dislike the phrase "man up" because it implies that women aren't as mentally strong as men or for some other reason?
'Man up' being synonymous for 'Toughen up' is what I was talking about. The implication of the phrase is troubling, you must admit. Not only does it place women in an inferior position, it also forces men to aspire to toughness in order to be considered 'manly'.
Hmm, you are more logical about this than I originally thought. I was just about to point out how biased would it be if you focused only on the female part, but fair enough. The truth is, however, that it's usually testosterone that leads to unusual bravery (but at the same time sometimes leads to aggressivity). Bravery is shown by both genders, nonetheless. But no, "I ain't bovvered" by this at all. It just isn't an enough important issue for me to care about (now I mean no offense by that, it's only that there are many other more important things that feminists and equalists should care about).
In any case, I still don't agree with the idea of forcing people to say gender neutral phrases like this. Freedom of speech, ya know. I'd rather have that than restrictions because someone somewhere might get offended.
Comments
You people see sexism in literally everything. It's just a phrase, nothing more. Yes, the origins of this are probably connected to "courage=manliness", but in our modern society, the origins are forgotten and the only thing that remains is the phrase that doesn't have anything to do with actual manly parts anymore. Most phrases, proverbs and metaphors are connected to some kind of historical habit or ways of thinking. Complaining about people using them even though there is no sexist thought behind it is not very clever.
Yes, the origins of a phrase are a good thing to know so you don't appear ignorant or misuse the phrase, but trying to keep people from using it because of these origins, just because it might bother some people who might think it sexist, is pointless in my opinion. Yes, ignoring a problem won't make it go away, but creating a problem because of a minority of people who might get offended, especially when most of them didn't realize it until someone pointed it out, is not especially good either.
Before I'll explain further, may I just ask: do you dislike the phrase "man up" because it implies that women aren't as mentally strong as men or for some other reason?
In any case, I still don't agree with the idea of forcing people to say gender neutral phrases like this. Freedom of speech, ya know. I'd rather have that than restrictions because someone somewhere might get offended.