Poll: Do you think this is sexist?

[Mandalore_15]

I just had a rather interesting encounter with my next-door neighbour. I was asking her if it was OK for me to get some building work done, as the house is terraced and it might inconvenience her. She said she had to call her landlord and ask if it was OK.

Well, she got back to me later on and said, at one point, "I called my landlord Chloe, and she said it's fine."

I was a little taken aback and, instinctively said, "Chloe? Oh, you mean your landlady," to which she replied "erm, that's a bit sexist don't you think?"

No. I don't think so.

Since when has it been "sexist" to use gender-nominative terms? The whole thing took be back to when Hollywood actresses campaigned to be called "actors" so they could feel "equal to the men." This is such rabid bullshit: the reason we have these distinctions is that they relay useful information, i.e. your gender. In the German language, every noun has a gender. You don't hear them going on about how it's sexist.

I will continue to call actresses actresses, landladies landladies, policewomen... well, you get the idea.

So Escapist, what's your opinion on the issue? Should we move towards gender neutral terms, or should overly sensitive women (and some men of course) just get over themselves?

EDIT - I posted this down below but I've moved it up here so everyone can see it straight off:

I wasn't really "correcting" her, as my statement wasn't really aimed at her. It was more just my inner-monologue coming out of my mouth involuntarily. It does that a lot!

 

[Radoh]

Well in a way I guess.

The male version is always the one used, so I think there might be just a little sexism in it, but no more than simple "meh, whatevs" material.

 

[anthony87]

Normally I would say "No".

However, the way you pretty much "corrected" your neighbour could be seen as sexist.

 

[Marmooset]

If you have to ask, deep down you know.

 

[LordOmnit]

You aren't wrong to use gender-nominatives and it isn't generally sexist to use them (can't really think of a situation where it would be sexist, but I don't feel right saying that it never is). However you were wrong to correct your neighbor. In as much as it was rude and unnecessary.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Maybe not sexist, but you were certainly being rude and pedantic.

Nobody likes having their speech corrected with a fine-tooth comb.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Nobody likes having their speech corrected with a fine-tooth comb.

Indeed. Do I think the term "Landlady" is sexist? Nope. I just attribute it to being more feminine than "Landlord" which could be either gender.

[sub]Political correctness... My arch nemesis...[/sub]

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

the reason we have these distinctions is that they relay useful information, i.e. your gender.

Uhm. how is it "useful" to know the gender of someone's landlord?

 

[Mandalore_15]

OK, everyone who was saying I was rude by correcting her let me just explain myself a bit better:

I wasn't really "correcting" her, as my statement wasn't really aimed at her. It was more just my inner-monologue coming out of my mouth involuntarily. It does that a lot!

Indeed. Do I think the term "Landlady" is sexist? Nope. I just attribute it to being more feminine than "Landlord" which could be either gender.

This isn't really true. Landlords cannot be either gender, as a "lord" by definition is male. The reason I don't find it sexist is because men can no more be landladies than women can be landlords. They're on equal footing.

This one isn't quite accurate because "actor" is not gender-nominative in modern days, nor is any word ending in "or".

I really don't believe this is true. I think people only think that because of the huge stink Hollywood actresses made over it, which to me was baseless and irrational.

 

[LongAndShort]

I think you correcting her like that was a rude, but otherwise I don't see the issue. Maybe it sounded like you were unnecessarily applying gender terms for the sake of it, and I can see how that can be taken as sexism.

 

[triggrhappy94]

Is it sexist/racist/etc.?
Is there real hate behind it?
(you pretty much answer your own question)

I understand the slip up. In English its common to use gender-nominatives, like actress, policewomen, whatever. It was probably just a force-of-habit on your part to think it applies to "landlord", and that's fine. (Time to literary) The word 'lord' as in 'landlord' is not strictly male, so the female inverse would still be 'landlord'.

 

[Mandalore_15]

the reason we have these distinctions is that they relay useful information, i.e. your gender.

Uhm. how is it "useful" to know the gender of someone's landlord?

How is it not? It's useful because it conveys information that tells you something about the person. That can be useful in a whole host of circumstances.

Besides, the very use of the word "landlord" conveys maleness. I now know if I want to go over and invite them for a drink to get to know them, I'm safer taking beer than wine.

 

[Robert Ewing]

It's not sexist. The term landlord is used for male imagery. It's masculine. It's perfectly fine to interpret landLADY as what it freaking is. A landLADY.

It's basically like saying 'I love my wife, he is so lovely.' It doesn't tell you the right image at all.

 

[Mandalore_15]

Lord already implies man, so calling them a landlady isn't sexist. Calling her landlord I don't think would be either.

Maybe it would be better if there was a gender neutral term but IMO this is too minor of an issue to raise any kind of fuss over.

Do you think it would be better if there was a gender-neutral term? My problem is that I think there is nothing wrong with distinguishing someone's gender... everybody has one! Just want to know your opinion.

 

[Nisselue]

I do not really care, they can change the word man into scum of the earth and the word woman into roses and run around saying policeroses and policescumoftheearth for all i care. I am just tired of this sexism/feminism qq crying crap going on.

 

[dyre]

Really, it doesn't matter. It's not sexist or improper to call female landpeople "landlords," and it's not sexist to call them "landladies," either.

Sexism is making derogatory statements against a gender, or making character assessments on someone based on their gender. The battle for politically correct wording is just stupid.

 

[DarkRyter]

It acknowledges a difference in gender.

Sexist? Yeah.

A big deal? A huge social injustice? The sigil of doom for society? No.