7 Apr 2000 rwatson   » (Master)

Two ponderings for the sexism question:

    1) Relativism and Perspective

    No one can say, ``This term is not sexist,'' they can only say, ``This term does not seem sexist to me.''

    2) The advantaged and the disadvantaged

    The person who is advantaged as a result of some societal disparity doesn't get the liberty of saying, ``Everything is better now.'' That right belongs to the disadvantaged. Which doesn't mean that the oppressed shouldn't get around to feeling less so if things have changed, it just suggests that if you are a man, you don't have the right to say to a woman, ``The world is a better place now, so get over it.''

In this context, consider the US technology sector, where there is still a dramatic disparity in terms of opportunity and participation between men and women.

On political correctness: is it really wrong to stick with ``journeyer'' rather than switch to ``journeyman'' if several people in our community have expressed explicit discomfort with such a change? :-) Let's not bash political correctness at the cost of sensitivity to the concerns of a community.

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