From: g9rwaigh@cdf.toronto.edu (Rosemary Waigh)
Subject: Frosh (was Re: Sexist language (was...
Organization: University of Toronto Computing Disciplines Facility
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 19:46:08 GMT

In article <101793@netnews.upenn.edu> varhus@lindy.seas.upenn.edu (Kristofor A Varhus) writes:
>In article <1992Dec12.002855.643@cdf.toronto.edu> g9rwaigh@cdf.toronto.edu (Rosemary Waigh) writes:
>->In article <1992Dec11.031911.63804@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> mlsa@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (MICHAEL LAUREN SHERMAN) writes:
>->>In article <1992Dec10.110032.2784@gacvx2.gac.edu>, censtad@dion.gac.edu (Topher
>->>the Gustie) writes:
>->>>In article <1992Dec10.142759.13000@cdf.toronto.edu>  (Rosemary Waigh) writes:
>->>>> (At UofT we don't use the sexist term "Freshman" any more.)
>->>>At Gustavus we officially use the term First-Year Students.
>->[...] but there is something wrong with mindlessly clinging to
>->tradition, using inaccurate language, and being inconsiderate, especially
>->when it is trivially simple to use inoffensive language.
>Simple?  Whaddaya mean, simple?  "Freshman" has only two syllables, while
>"First-Year Student" has four.  
I guess you missed my original posting, which gaved the non-sexist term used
at UofT, namely "frosh".  Only one syllable!  Just think of the time you can
save by adopting this term! :-)

>Also, what is so inaccurate about "freshman"?  If words in the english language
>are which end in "-man" are generally used to describe humans of either
>gender, what is wrong with using them.  

From _The_Handbook_of_Nonsexist_Writing_ by Casey Miller and Kate Swift:
"Recent studies of college students and school children indicate that the broad
definitions of *man* and *men* [i.e. to refer to all humans and not just males],
although still taught, have to a significant degree become inoperative at a
subliminal level.  Phrases like *economic man* and *political man*, or
statements like 'Man domesticated animals' and 'Man is a dreamer,' it turns
out, tend to call up images of male people only, not female people or females
and males together." (p 10)
References:
"Among studies which report and discuss evidence indication that the so-called
generics *man* and *men* (and compounds incorporating them) are not generally
understood to include females are the following:
"Johanna S. DeStefano, Mary W. Kuhner, and Harold B. Pepinsky, 'An 
Investigation of Referents of Selected Sex-Indefinite Terms in English,'
paper presented at the Ninth World Congress of Sociology, Uppsala, Sweden,
August 1978.
"LaVisa Cam Wilson, 'Teachers' Inclusion of Males and Females in Generic Nouns,'
_Research_in_the_Teaching_of_English_, May 1978, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 155-161.
"Ozella M. Y. Eberhart, 'Elementary Students' Understanding of Certain
Masculine and Neutral Generic Nouns,' doctoral dissertation, Kansas State
University, 1976, _Dissertation_Abstracts_, 1976, Vol. 37, pp. 4113A-4114A.
(University Microfilms No. 76-29,993.)
"Linda Harrison, 'Cro-Magnon Woman--In Eclipse,' _The_Science_Teacher_, April
1975, pp. 8-11.
"Linda Harrison and Richard Passero, 'Sexism in the Language of Elementary
School Textbooks,' _Science_and_Children_, January 1975, Vol. 12, pp. 22-25.
"Joseph W. Schneider and Sally L. Hacker, 'Sex Role Imagery and the Use of the
Generic "Man" in Introductory Texts:  A Case in the Sociology of Sociology,'
_The_American_Sociologist_, February 1973, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 12-18."

>Why do you take the word "freshman"
>(or any other -man word, for that matter) as being offensive when no one
>(absolutely no one - you find someone, and I'll stop using the word) uses
>it in a derogatory fashion?  

Because it is inaccurate, and perpetuates the myth that being male is the
norm and being female is exceptional.
-- 
Rosemary Waigh             Undergraduate, Computer Science / Linguistics
g9rwaigh@cdf.utoronto.ca   University of Toronto
	"Looking at the Earth from afar you realize it is too small
	for conflict and just big enough for co-operation."  Yuri Gagarin
Newsgroups: soc.college,alt.usage.english