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US college course bans the words 'male' and 'female'

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    #62
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,412 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    Not sure any of them really come with the same connotations as "retard". But if they do, meh, I can live without them.

    Avoiding words like "retard", or similarly "spastic" doesn't tie me up in knots.


    Retarded is a perfectly descriptive word.


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    #63
    Yamanoto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,489 ✭✭✭Yamanoto


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Better stop using the words fool, imbecile, cretin among many others in common usage that were medical terms in the past. We can wrap ourselves up in knots trying to be "politically correct" when it comes to language.

    There's a whole Wiki page detailing various controversies surrounding use of the word 'niggardly'.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22


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    #64
    super_furry
    Registered Users Posts: 27,322 ✭✭✭✭super_furry


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Better stop using the words fool, imbecile, cretin among many others in common usage that were medical terms in the past. We can wrap ourselves up in knots trying to be "politically correct" when it comes to language.

    God help you if you ever have to listen to someone rant and rave about how you're a huge raving sexist for using the word hysterical due to it's obscure etymology. I got up and walked away two minutes in.


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    #65
    zeffabelli
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,516 ✭✭✭zeffabelli


    super_furry wrote: »
    God help you if you ever have to listen to someone rant and rave about how you're a huge raving sexist for using the word hysterical due to it's obscure etymology. I got up and walked away two minutes in.

    I think some campuses have long since banned "women," due to it meaning wife of man, and instead use gyne.


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    #66
    the evasion_kid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,740 ✭✭✭the evasion_kid


    frostyjacks wrote: »
    When will this madness end?

    Never It seems....

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feminists-upset-over-statue-of-man-and-woman-talking/article/2565164


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    #67
    orubiru
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,290 ✭✭✭orubiru


    Akrasia wrote: »
    Actually, a course like this could be very good if it was taught in a rational and non soap-boxy way

    The way popular culture treats men and women and people with disabilities and the various sexual preferences and races etc is a hugely important social topic that is genuinely worthwhile to study and understand

    But when it's being taught by someone who sets the rules at the outset that limits how the students are allowed to think about these issues then it's clearly going to be a terrible course.

    I agree with you here and also don't really see the problem with courses being introduced that are genuinely educational and informative.

    The main problem I have is with the potential consequences of using a banned word or phrase. Who is enforcing the correct usage of language and how is someone punished if they use the wrong pronoun or phrase or whatever?

    If I go off to Sweden and call people "him" or "her" then what are the consequences? What consequences are appropriate?

    If I use the wrong pronouns for someone should I lose my job? Or should I just be publicly shamed or maybe hounded on the internet?

    What if I hear an old person using the banned phrase "colored person"? Should I tell them to say "person of color" from now on or should I contact the authorities so that they can be properly dealt with?

    I realize it may be a slippery slope fallacy but how much of a leap is it from words being banned in college to people being prosecuted for using banned words?


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    #68
    kneemos
    Registered Users Posts: 20,412 ✭✭✭✭kneemos


    orubiru wrote: »
    I agree with you here and also don't really see the problem with courses being introduced that are genuinely educational and informative.

    The main problem I have is with the potential consequences of using a banned word or phrase. Who is enforcing the correct usage of language and how is someone punished if they use the wrong pronoun or phrase or whatever?

    If I go off to Sweden and call people "him" or "her" then what are the consequences? What consequences are appropriate?

    If I use the wrong pronouns for someone should I lose my job? Or should I just be publicly shamed or maybe hounded on the internet?

    What if I hear an old person using the banned phrase "colored person"? Should I tell them to say "person of color" from now on or should I contact the authorities so that they can be properly dealt with?

    I realize it may be a slippery slope fallacy but how much of a leap is it from words being banned in college to people being prosecuted for using banned words?


    A man will be along shortly to explain things.:)


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    #69
    conorhal
    Registered Users Posts: 6,986 ✭✭✭conorhal


    Uh.... how exactly are two binary descriptions of gender 'ze' and 'xe' any different from him and her since each is used to describe male and female?

    I would laugh at how bonkers it all is, but a lot of these nutters are genuinely influential in the corridors of power.


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    #70
    osarusan
    Registered Users Posts: 16,576 ✭✭✭✭osarusan


    zeffabelli wrote: »
    I think some campuses have long since banned "women," due to it meaning wife of man, and instead use gyne.

    Yeah? Which campuses?


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    #71
    Carlos Orange
    Registered Users Posts: 2,499 ✭✭✭Carlos Orange


    It always seems strange to me that people who dislike the word female so much aren't called womanists.


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    #72
    The Rape of Lucretia
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭The Rape of Lucretia


    Could we not just retire the phrase 'take offense', than all other words would be OK. It would be a lot simpler, clearer, and the world would be a better place.


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    #73
    suicide_circus
    Registered Users Posts: 19,802 ✭✭✭✭suicide_circus


    This is pretty much the kind of claptrap I expect from those involved in the politically correct arts such as gender studies. The more people change the more they stay the same. They may have switched their jackboots and Luger for a hemp pancho and a macbook but the thought process is remarkably similar.


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    #74
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    suicide_circus wrote: »
    This is pretty much the kind of claptrap I expect from those involved in the politically correct arts such as gender studies. The more people change the more they stay the same. They may have switched their jackboots and Luger for a hemp pancho and a macbook but the thought process is remarkably similar.

    They want to kill all Jewish people and take over the world?


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    #75
    conorhal
    Registered Users Posts: 6,986 ✭✭✭conorhal


    Deleted User wrote: »
    They want to kill all Jewish people and take over the world?

    Have you heard of the BDS movement? There's no shortage of pancho wearing goons that are eager to blame the joos for all the worlds ills.


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    #76
    The Corinthian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,777 ✭✭✭✭The Corinthian


    Deleted User wrote: »
    They want to kill all Jewish people and take over the world?
    I hope you're joking, TBH. He/She wrote "the thought process is remarkably similar" not "their aims are remarkably similar".

    So if you're joking, well, meh. If not, learn to read.


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    #77
    Overheal
    Registered Users Posts: 81,921 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    darkpagandeath wrote: »
    That will not take long to get torn down. Freedom of speech in the old USA.

    Not unconstitutional.

    https://xkcd.com/1357/


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    #78
    zeffabelli
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,516 ✭✭✭zeffabelli


    Overheal wrote: »
    Not unconstitutional.

    https://xkcd.com/1357/

    Yeah but in state universities, doesn't it count as state players, the government, controlling speech?


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    #79
    Carlos Orange
    Registered Users Posts: 2,499 ✭✭✭Carlos Orange


    Overheal wrote: »
    Not unconstitutional.

    https://xkcd.com/1357/

    You didn't reply to someone who said it was unconstitutional.


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    #80
    Cienciano
    Registered Users Posts: 14,234 ✭✭✭✭Cienciano


    Omackeral wrote: »
    Heard it said today that if Back To The Future were made accurately then the 2015 that they travelled to in the movie would just be people with their faces buried in their phones and constantly taking offence at everything.

    They were right, a fúcking college course in america and people are going mad over it like it's the end of the world and it actually effects their lives :rolleyes:


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    #81
    Squeeonline
    Registered Users Posts: 2,555 ✭✭✭Squeeonline


    strelok wrote: »
    I love that tumblr is leaking more and more into the real world

    :feminst jazz hands:

    TRIGGERED!!!!!

    you're not respecting that I had a traumatic jazz related event when I was younger, you insensitive clod!

    Now I wait for your mansplation of why what you did is ok.


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    #82
    Overheal
    Registered Users Posts: 81,921 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    psinno wrote: »
    You didn't reply to someone who said it was unconstitutional.

    That was of course the implication.
    zeffabelli wrote: »
    Yeah but in state universities, doesn't it count as state players, the government, controlling speech?

    It is not the government involving themselves in the course curriculum whatsoever. It is neither promoting nor interfering with it; perfectly legal.


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    #83
    Paramite Pie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,312 ✭✭✭Paramite Pie


    Reading through the rest of the guidelines, it's quite strict in general.

    Doctor Appointments cannot be made during classtimes and are counted as absences. Harsh. It's not always easy to get an appointment to suit.

    Six absences in a semester gets you an automatic F. I assume this is a weekly class and there's not any weeks in a semester but referring to the doctor appointment rule it could be problematic.


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    #84
    Rym Shanley
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 94 ✭✭Rym Shanley


    Joeytheparrot wrote: »
    Meh

    I thought this kind of stuff would be right up your street.


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    #85
    Carlos Orange
    Registered Users Posts: 2,499 ✭✭✭Carlos Orange


    Overheal wrote: »
    That was of course the implication.

    It is not the government involving themselves in the course curriculum whatsoever. It is neither promoting nor interfering with it; perfectly legal.

    You are free to think that. Doesn't necessarily make it so.

    Concepts exist outside of legal restrictions maintained by one constitution in a country few in anyone on this thread live in.


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    #86
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    The Corinthian wrote: »
    I hope you're joking, TBH. He/She wrote "the thought process is remarkably similar" not "their aims are remarkably similar".

    So if you're joking, well, meh. If not, learn to read.

    You're dancing on the head of a pin. Comparing these people to the Nazis is utterly ridiculous, whether the comparison be aims, thought processes etc.


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    #87
    Overheal
    Registered Users Posts: 81,921 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    psinno wrote: »
    You are free to think that. Doesn't necessarily make it so.



    Concepts exist outside of legal restrictions maintained by one constitution in a country few in anyone on this thread live in.

    Well, I live in it, and am confident I have interpreted the First Amendment correctly.


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    #88
    Akrasia
    Registered Users Posts: 22,265 ✭✭✭✭Akrasia


    padd b1975 wrote: »
    I'm afraid you're just adding to the hilarity there chief.

    So you think there is nothing to be learned from looking at how women's roles have changed in popular culture?

    Or do you just think the entire field of sociology is pointless?


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    #89
    OiL RiG
    Registered Users Posts: 45 ✭OiL RiG


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    They want to kill all Jewish people and take over the world?

    I think you'll find it's 'people of the Jewish faith.' Wouldn't want to offend anyone.
    Also, 'members of the Nazi party,' not 'Nazis.'

    Honestly, why anyone thinks a simple grammatical manipulation of the label makes it less offensive is beyond me.


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    #90
    The Corinthian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,777 ✭✭✭✭The Corinthian


    Deleted User wrote: »
    You're dancing on the head of a pin. Comparing these people to the Nazis is utterly ridiculous, whether the comparison be aims, thought processes etc.
    Dancing on the head of a pin? It it had any relevance to anything being discussed it might even sound clever rather than someone who wants to sound clever.

    So you feel any comparison to the Nazis is utterly ridiculous, on the basis of incorrectly reading the comparison made. Now you're accusing me of indulging in abstract philosophy (or theology) despite the fact that all I did was not that but point out that you were basing your response on something that was never said.

    The only one who sounds ridiculous at this stage is you, in fairness.


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    #91
    Carlos Orange
    Registered Users Posts: 2,499 ✭✭✭Carlos Orange


    Overheal wrote: »
    Well, I live in it, and am confident I have interpreted the First Amendment correctly.

    I'm confident concepts exist outside of one countries constitutional restrictions on government action. Usually they even pre-date them. Anyhow https://xkcd.com/386/


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