General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Women only: Regarding the use of the term 'girls' to describe women. [View all]noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)and intergroup usage? i mean really...it is the same with the n word and other words that may be considered slurs or insults if someone outside of the group uses it. it is really pretty fng simple.
i am a lesbian. i have gay male friends who might call me girl, and i would not be offended. i have female friends who call me girl...i am not offended. if my male supervisor calls me a girl at work, i would probably be offended. it really is not rocket science, is it?
who owns language? the dominant group used to own it, but not any longer. words like privilege, entitlement, etc. come to mind. remember the "angry white man?" when i run into him on the internet, he usually has a gripe about "pc police," etc. the real issue is just having respect for people, and having and using common fng sense. some people feel entitled to be disrespectful to others.