Why is it that gender-neutral honorifics sound somewhat fascist?
For example: Citizen So-and-so, Comrade Such-and-such
Reason:
1/2 Anti-communist propaganda
1/2 Accidental association with portrayals of future utopic/dystopic societies with gender-neutrality
Before China's Reform and Opening, spoken Chinese was almost completely gender (and class) neutral.
- àirén, partner (wife or husband)
- tā, he/she/it
- tóngzhì, Ms./Mrs./Miss/Mr./Master (glossed in America as comrade)
Now terms like wife, husband, and Miss are making a comeback.
How about gender-neutral address English? I'd recommend using either gender-neutral "sir" alone or last name alone (with no honorific). Students refer to professors (not direct address) this way. Students sometimes refer to each other by last name too--well, mostly on crew team.
I'm also a big fan of the gender (and class) neutral honorific Teach(er) for primary/high school teachers (as opposed to Mr./Ms.) and college professors. The Chinese professors here traditionally are called lǎoshī (teacher) instead of jiāoshòu (professor).
I completely agree; the politically correct insistence on constant gender neutrality is basically bunkum. I had a religion professor who even insisted we could not refer to God as He. Myself, I insist on being called "Miss." This is partly because I'm single and it is the traditional address for a single lady. But it's also to stick it to my overzealous liberal "comrades."
ReplyDeleteHey, if a person prefers being called something, why not call them by whatever they prefer?
ReplyDeletePersonally?--"Mr" makes me feel old. Though it's also confusing when bank tellers call me "Matt." I suppose I'll have to settle for "hey you" or "yo."