Date: 21 Jan 2013 11:51 pm (UTC)
sonia: Quilted wall-hanging (Default)
From: [personal profile] sonia
I used "you guys" as a gender neutral expression without any awareness that it might be problematic until I was chastised for it one day at Mama Bears women's bookstore in Oakland, probably 15 years ago. Yes I did watch Electric Company which started, "HEY YOU GUYS!!!" in elementary school.

Over time, I've gradually replaced the phrase with with "you folks" or "you all" or "you ladies." Or, to be honest, "you guys I mean you all."

I'm taking a class on fighting oppression and domestic violence. There are 20 women and 2 men in the class. It grates on me something fierce when the presenter says, "You guys blah blah blah." To me it speaks of lack of awareness in a specifically feminist context.

The other place it grates on me lately is coming from the exclusively male management of the computer engineering company I work for, because I think they really do mean, "You men (oh yeah, maybe there are a couple of women too)," and I always want to say, "Hey, I'm right here!"
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