'Mother' banned by University
Discussion
Let's hope this is an exaggeration or misinterpreted.
According to The Spectator -- From now on gender-neutral terms are in vogue in Manchester, which means that ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are no longer appropriate for use in university materials, to be replaced by ‘individuals’ and ‘guardians’.
Where will it end?
According to The Spectator -- From now on gender-neutral terms are in vogue in Manchester, which means that ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are no longer appropriate for use in university materials, to be replaced by ‘individuals’ and ‘guardians’.
Where will it end?
LordGrover said:
Let's hope this is an exaggeration or misinterpreted.
According to The Spectator -- From now on gender-neutral terms are in vogue in Manchester, which means that ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are no longer appropriate for use in university materials, to be replaced by ‘individuals’ and ‘guardians’.
Where will it end?
Well it's an opinion column from Steerpike in the Spectator, so we can be pretty sure that it's not a dispassionate examination of the facts.According to The Spectator -- From now on gender-neutral terms are in vogue in Manchester, which means that ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are no longer appropriate for use in university materials, to be replaced by ‘individuals’ and ‘guardians’.
Where will it end?
And letters that got sent home from my school back in the 80s were always addressed to "parent/guardian" not "mother and father" so I'm not quite sure what the issue is.
Not sure what to think of that, who is getting offended by the terms man, woman, mother and father enough for them to apply these changes?
I am all for modern inclusive society but for those that dont fall into existing terms or categories create some new ones, refer to yourself however you want, have your own section of cards in clintons, have at it, but there will always be men and women, and mothers and fathers no matter how hard people try to erase the terms from society.
I am all for modern inclusive society but for those that dont fall into existing terms or categories create some new ones, refer to yourself however you want, have your own section of cards in clintons, have at it, but there will always be men and women, and mothers and fathers no matter how hard people try to erase the terms from society.
BoRED S2upid said:
That’s all well and good until someone tries to write anything using such guidance and it becomes complete nonsense.
If you read the actual guidance linked in the article it seems remarkably straightforward and sensible.Still, mission accomplished as I clicked, some piss was nicely warmed and the agenda propagated.
FFS, how about following the link and reading the source before getting all offended?
All they have done is updated the university style guide and advise that, where possible, gender neutral terms are used.
It’s not a ban. It’s not an attempt to stop anything other than unthinking use of outdated terms. It’s just an attempt to make people think about the wording they are using.
All they have done is updated the university style guide and advise that, where possible, gender neutral terms are used.
It’s not a ban. It’s not an attempt to stop anything other than unthinking use of outdated terms. It’s just an attempt to make people think about the wording they are using.
JeffreyD said:
If you read the actual guidance linked in the article it seems remarkably straightforward and sensible.
Still, mission accomplished as I clicked, some piss was nicely warmed and the agenda propagated.
GuidanceStill, mission accomplished as I clicked, some piss was nicely warmed and the agenda propagated.
I guess it depends on how strict adherents become and whether dissenters will be admonished.
We were using gender neutral terms when I was an undergraduate in 1996 so I wouldn't worry too much about this.
There is a certain amount of sense to it. I was recently writing a publication about the memorialisation of the First World War. Initially I was going to use the period correct term 'serviceman' to refer to the people who are memorialised but I did a bit of research and discovered that quite a few memorials also included women, so went with 'service personnel' instead.
There is a certain amount of sense to it. I was recently writing a publication about the memorialisation of the First World War. Initially I was going to use the period correct term 'serviceman' to refer to the people who are memorialised but I did a bit of research and discovered that quite a few memorials also included women, so went with 'service personnel' instead.
LordGrover said:
JeffreyD said:
If you read the actual guidance linked in the article it seems remarkably straightforward and sensible.
Still, mission accomplished as I clicked, some piss was nicely warmed and the agenda propagated.
GuidanceStill, mission accomplished as I clicked, some piss was nicely warmed and the agenda propagated.
I guess it depends on how strict adherents become and whether dissenters will be admonished.
Electro1980 said:
FFS, how about following the link and reading the source before getting all offended?
All they have done is updated the university style guide and advise that, where possible, gender neutral terms are used.
It’s not a ban. It’s not an attempt to stop anything other than unthinking use of outdated terms. It’s just an attempt to make people think about the wording they are using.
So If I am understanding this correctly, "Mother" and "Father" are outdated terms?All they have done is updated the university style guide and advise that, where possible, gender neutral terms are used.
It’s not a ban. It’s not an attempt to stop anything other than unthinking use of outdated terms. It’s just an attempt to make people think about the wording they are using.
TriumphStag3.0V8 said:
Electro1980 said:
FFS, how about following the link and reading the source before getting all offended?
All they have done is updated the university style guide and advise that, where possible, gender neutral terms are used.
It’s not a ban. It’s not an attempt to stop anything other than unthinking use of outdated terms. It’s just an attempt to make people think about the wording they are using.
So If I am understanding this correctly, "Mother" and "Father" are outdated terms?All they have done is updated the university style guide and advise that, where possible, gender neutral terms are used.
It’s not a ban. It’s not an attempt to stop anything other than unthinking use of outdated terms. It’s just an attempt to make people think about the wording they are using.
Electro1980 said:
It’s not a ban. It’s not an attempt to stop anything other than unthinking use of outdated terms. It’s just an attempt to make people think about the wording they are using.
That's what I find irritating about it. The unthinking use of outdated terms is how a language develops The deliberate use of politically loaded terms is an attempt to impose a certain world view by loading the language with values such as, from the guidance "race and ethnicity are social constructs", "gender can be fluid" and "Groups of individuals from the same religion should be referred to as a community."As though it were self evident that these things are true. As though addressing "ladies and gentlemen" was somehow oppressive bullying likely to send an otherwise happy trans person into a tailspin of depression. As though the "Muslim community" from Nigeria to Iran to Indonesia is somehow aligned in its interests, or as though calling a man who is chairing a meeting a chairman is going to dash the hopes of ambitious young women and make them decide to be housewives instead.
I agree with being broadly neutral in things like using first or given name instead of Christian name on official forms. It's a simple recognition that not everyone filling in that form will be a Christian. Demanding that everyone buys into their values on race, gender and identity and expresses this in clumsy and loaded language is a different thing altogether.
horpe?TriumphStag3.0V8 said:
So If I am understanding this correctly, "Mother" and "Father" are outdated terms?
NoYou use the term "parent/guardian" and then once you know the person involved you can move to less general language.
It's not rocket science and it's very easy to achieve with a little thought.
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