Set up Autocorrect to Replace “guys” With “guys”
Do you use guys as a pronoun for both men and women? If you’ve ever wondered what would be okay (if you’re actually speaking to a mixed gender crowd), here’s Will from Los Angeles letters on the January 12th podcast With Friends Like These , to ask “How are you Do you think the term guys have reached gender neutral status in the language today? “
Ana Marie Cox, host of the podcast, invited Jameel Smith, a research writer for the LA Times, to discuss Will’s question and the question of whether “guys” are common these days. Their discussion (which kicks off at around 51:00, although the first part of the podcast on politics is awesome too) provides an interesting breakdown of why language matters, what our default assumptions are, and how we can manage the course of social life. progress with minor fixes.
Here’s the most important part of their conversation about “guys”: Cox installed auto-correction on her computer and phone to swap guys for people . She did it to make himself think about whether she meant “guys”: says if she e-mail group of colleagues consisting exclusively of men? Or is she talking to a girl group? And to go further, Smith points out that even if you are reaching out to all men, should you be doing it? Perhaps, he notes, you should consider why all your colleagues are men (or why all your colleagues are men). And if you think about this little thing, you hopefully think about all the more important things as well.
Such a tiny exam makes the author reflect on what we consider to be standard, and how whiteness, masculinity, heterosexuality, and ability tend to be centered in our culture. This is a useful, albeit tiny exercise for remembering that not everyone you deal with will be the default. Cox even coined a new term, “micro-justice,” a little thing someone can do to correct the tendency to prioritize whiteness and masculinity.
Now, if you want an interesting insight into whether gender language matters, a good Twitter account to follow is @ManWhoHasItAll:
So is this all overthinking stuff? Funny, they refer to this too! Smith says, “When we think about gender pronouns and how we center the masculine, it’s not too much, it’s just thinking … now. This is a recipe for maintaining the status quo. “
Would you like a little reminder about your language and whether it is comprehensive or not? Set up autocorrect to replace guys with people , or whatever term works for you. As Smith says, “It doesn’t take that much energy or cognitive ability to take into account someone else’s point of view.”