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Jan 7, 2024 · If you hear others repeatedly using “guys” to refer to women or mixed-gender groups, call it out in private with a rationale.
- Instead Of "Feisty," Say "Go-Getter" When you hear "feisty," it's usually to describe either a cat or a woman. And while it can have some positive connotations, it also tends to mean someone's overly aggressive or argumentative.
- Instead Of "Sissy," Say "Coward" "Sissy" is often used to call someone, particularly a man, a coward by implying that they are feminine — which, in turn, implies that women are weak.
- Instead Of "Frigid," Say "Cold" "Frigid" usually describes a woman who is uptight or sexually closed off. Traditionally (AKA in Sigmund Freud's vocabulary), it's been used to classify women as sexually dysfunctional, often for unfair reasons.
- Instead Of "Ditsy," Say "Spacey" The word "ditsy" goes along with the "dumb blonde" stereotype: It conjures a woman who is unintelligent and unable to be serious.
Jan 13, 2023 · Some argue that "girl" is infantilizing when used to refer to adult women, while "boy" doesn't have the same gendered connotations. Others note that while the term "guys" is used colloquially to refer to a group of people regardless of gender, its usage dismisses women who are present and reinforces a view of men as the default.
- Director of Survey Data Journalism
- Hayley Gleeson
- Girls. Associate Professor Rae Cooper from the University of Sydney's Business School said the #WordsAtWork campaign was a positive initiative because it would put the importance of using inclusive language on business leaders' agenda.
- Bossy. "I'm not bossy," declared Beyonce in 2014. "I'm the boss." The pop star teamed up with Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In and Girl Scouts USA to launch Ban Bossy, a public service campaign encouraging girls to throw off negative stereotypes and achieve their ambitions.
- Feisty. Please, don't call women 'feisty'. In fact, it's Downton Abbey actor Daisy Lewis's least favourite word, for obvious reasons. "Feisty? My least favourite word.
- Ball busting. Likewise, when was the last time you heard someone call a man a "ball-breaker" or a "ball-buster"? One glance at Twitter shows US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is regularly described as 'ball-busting' or 'ball-breaking' — a term frequently directed at women in positions of authority, but never men — simply for doing her job.
May 13, 2019 · Updated to clarify: yes, "one of the guys" might be a girl. "A guy" is going to be male. But I'm going to check with some young US native speakers how they use it. jonathanjo is right about singular guy being male, and "the bad guy" as a description for villains.
Jul 2, 2012 · People who say “guys” generally mean no harm by it and are likely just using the word because it’s informal without sounding dorky or affected. Demanding they change breeds resentment. There are much bigger battles in gender relations than word choice.
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Jul 7, 2021 · The word tomboy went from meaning “rowdy boy” to lascivious woman to rowdy girl in a century, and eventually became a compliment. Now some consider it too sexist to use.
