Shawn&Arushi

Here is our article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/13/good.sexist.language/index.html?iref=allsearch

This article expressed a female editor's strong opinion about using certain terms that consist of the word "man," thus eliminating the opposite gender, who as she puts it, "make up half the world." After her son asked her if using the term "mankind" in an essay was appropriate or not, CEO and editor/co-owner of PINK magazine, Cynthia Good, immediately said no, as this would completely leave out the remaining human race. Through her son's question, she was reminded of how work signs such as the "Men Working" sign only include the word "men." Since women make up about half of the work force, now, these kind of signs are becoming even more noticeable. Although this is true, most women in the workforce still complain of a primarily male-dominated society, through their low pay/positions. Good questions whether the use of certain words in society today can have a great impact on people, leading to bigger issues such as ostracism, especially for women.

Arushi: I really found this article interesting and I believe that over time, we have somewhat forgotten the real meaning behind some of the common words we use everyday. As the article points out, now that females are becoming an important part of society each and every day, our word choice may begin to have a negative impact on strong female supporters such as editor, Cynthia Good. Although the word "//wo//man" is different from "man" and "//human//kind" is different form "mankind," the alternate word choices still include the word "man." I feel like we never really will be able to choose completely appropriate words so as not to discriminate the opposite gender. The roots of the words we primarily use have been well established in society, and that's why it's hard for people to think differently now. However, I think Cynthia Good did bring up a valuable subject to discuss in her article. It is amazing to think that very small things such as the words we use can impact many strong-minded people to express their own opinions, such as Cynthia.

Shawn: I felt that the article's author, Cynthia Good, did make some interesting observations on how the word "man" is more common than the word "woman". I also have thought about this subject before. Why is the word "man" considered to include women. She has very strong opinions about signs and anything in the environment that says man instead of woman. Although she is a little radical on her beliefs, I do believe in changing the meaning of man to human or person would help those, like Cynthia, who are bothered by the everyday unequality. What I thought was an interesting observation was an example of a working woman, Penny McIntyre. In a conference with a bunch of guys she feels like she is excluded from the conversations because they are about sports and man things. I agree with Cynthia that this is something that is not solvable. I also feel that another unsolvable unequal usage of gender is the phrase, "you guys". Although Cynthia comes across some very interesting topics, I do think that many things that she complains about are unfixable and are a part of our language or way of life and will stay that way in the future.

Questions: 1) Are the girls in the class very much affected by this issue? Have you ever felt discriminated against/ostracized through signs like "men working" or the "mankind?" What are the guys' opinions? 2) Should we be give more attention to the usage of common words like "you guys", like Cynthia, or should we not even care? 3) Why do you think in Cynthia's sign example does the sign only say man, not woman? 4) Why is it more of a big deal for women to know what men are talking about than men knowing what women are talking about, like the Penny McIntyre example? 5) Do you think common phrases like "you guys" can ever be changed to something like "you people"? 6) To what extent should people give attention to changing the use of the everyday phrases people use (you guys, men working, etc.)