Re: Political Correctness Re: Manmonth or Peoplemonth?

[Philomena Hoopes <PHILA -at- MAIL -dot- VIPS -dot- COM>]

Oh please, not this again...

<<If a term is industry accepted why change it?>>

The male generic was written into law by the British Parliament, in (I
believe) the 1860's. At the time it truly was a generic -- women in business
were far from the norm. That state of affairs is long since past, as the
advance of women into business and industry at all levels has pushed this
standard into the realm of unacceptability. When the programming (or
development, or accounting, or whatever) department is 50 percent or more
female, and the president of the company is entirely likely to be female,
how accurate or relevant is it to use the term "man-hours" to refer to their
work?

Obviously PC contrivances such as "person-hour" and other such terms have
(thankfully) also gone the way of the pterodactyl. Smooth, unobtrusive
gender-neutrality now appears to be the standard, at least as I see it being
taught and used in the mid-Atlantic region.

Many reference books are available to assist writers in achieving this style
(not to mention the Microsoft grammar-checker). A number of these also
present cogent reasons for its use.

Philomena Hoopes
Phila -at- vips -dot- com <mailto:Phila -at- vips -dot- com>
VIPS Healthcare Information Solutions, Inc.
(410) 832-8330 ext 845


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