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Tuesday 15 April 2008

I Am Woman


Why, especially when we're talking to kids, do we refer to adult males as "men" and adult females as "ladies"? Isn't it meant to be ladies and gentlemen, and women and men?

Very early on, I decided to even things out, and started referring to women as women, not ladies, when speaking with MissM. But the problem is, "Give the ticket to the woman" sounds sort of harsh and strange compared with, "Give the ticket to the lady" -- especially when we are directly communicating with the woman in question. Similarly, "Give the ticket to the gentleman" sounds silly and pooncy, unless the man is a sweet little fluffy-haired 92 year old.

THIS BOTHERS ME, a lot. What century are we in again? Why is the need to pussyfoot around women and talk straight to men SO ingrained still in our society?

I will continue to refer to women as women and not "oh-so-delicate-and-feeble-you-must-speak-gently-ladies" and hopefully one day it'll stop feeling aggressive, and start feeling quite fine.

I challenge you, especially the parents, to try it out. Or at least start to feel funny about calling women "ladies".

3 comments:

Cathrines blogg said...

I agree, and me to am a woman!!!
;o)

Cathrines blogg said...

Ps: I love the picture by the way...

Drewzel said...

You know what I hate? When kids working in fast food stores call me "Ma'am".
I actually have never used the word lady ... and now it reminds of the fabulous Little Britain cross dressers :P