Gender neutral craze comes to The University of Tennesee

UT has disseminated an alternative set of pronouns for students and faculty to use when addressing each other.

Let me be clear right off the bat - this is not a mandatory thing. Nobody is being forced to use the terms.

That being said, the university is "encouraging" students to recognize that "sometimes he and she just don't work." A university official says the new pronouns only sound funny because people weren't raised to be gender neutral.

Also included in the article is news that Target is eliminating boy/girl signage from their toy aisles. All in the name of neutrality and inclusivity.

Seems a bit silly to me. Then again, I readily admit that I was raised to differentiate between boys and girls. What do you think, zirs and hirs?

www.today.com...

a reply to: Shamrock6

Stupidity.

Why don't we just call everyone "it" and be done with it?

a reply to: Shamrock6

So a very minor segment of society has us questioning whether we all should be non-women and non-men but rather a shade of vanilla for everyone? And in a University where the latest fad is always the cool thing to be a part of.

Nope.

Men are Men, Women are Women. Transgender is Transgender, Gay is Gay, Black is black, White is white....Whatever else there is...is just what it is.

BTW Hipsters...Just take off that damn wool cap and skinny jeans. You claim to be different yet all dress the same?

Ok, rant over.

Good Morning all!

Jude

a reply to: introvert

Or just "hey you!" I think there's already ways to be gender neutral without having to make up new words.

I found the suggestion that professors not take roll but simply ask students what they want to be called to be kind of funny.

"Yes, I would like to be called Ballyhoo, lord of the realm, defender of the imperial shrubbery, concealer of the holy hand grenade of Antioch.

Every. Single. Time. You. Call. On. Me."

a reply to: Shamrock6

This makes no sense what so ever.

Unless a huge number of students and faculty members are asexuals, which I highly doubt given the tiny number of them that exist in the world, a gender NEUTRAL reference would be as insulting as misapplied gender. I am good friends with a transgendered woman, and she would hate to be referred to as anything other than a woman.

I think this is a particularly ill advised policy.

a reply to: introvert

Location: Mood: Member was on ATS 12 minutes ago 2,010 50 6,993 45 53 posted on Aug, 29 2015 @ 08:06 link quote reply a reply to: Shamrock6 Stupidity. Why don't we just call everyone "it" and be done with it?

i like thangs better.

a reply to: Shamrock6

That's an insult to shrubbery.

So the transgenders have fought tooth and nail to be identified as the sex of their choice...

& the PC brigade come along and say "now we're gonna call you something else instead."



Bizarro world.

a reply to: introvert

You're right. It gives the impression they aren't capable of defending themselves. Dammit.

I'll figure something out.

a reply to: Shamrock6

Don't give a poop about the toilet related change. To be honest, it's something that should happen eventually anyway. Toilets are for toileting, not for hanging out in.

Aren't the english language like the french one? In french the rule is simple, you don't know the gender or if there are many people with different gender, you just use masculin. Some people add feminin to please the audiance, but we should just stick to that rule.

They forgot about our transpecies friends.

a reply to: Shamrock6

i wonder how the " womens studies " dept will handle this new gender neutrality thing ?

a reply to: Shamrock6

We should go full retard and call all males Martians and all females Venusians.

The males can be further split into Borg or stormtroopers and the females into Batwomen and Catwomen.

Or we go all Aussie and call everyone Oi.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Xe studies, you mean?

a reply to: Pinke

Did we read the same article? I didn't see "toilet" in the article I read.

a reply to: Shamrock6

This isn't aimed at you op.

To to all the lefties out there, I just pose this one simple question, since it is you lefties pushing all this idiocy.

Is there or is there not gender?

If there is, then WTF is wrong with you? Why are you trying to pretend like there isnt?

If there isn't, then why push transgender bs?

Because your mind set changes are giving us normal sane folks whiplash.

Figure it out one way or another and get back to me.

Alright guys, listen up, these are the actual facts, from someone who lives it.
gender is not a binary
we do not live in a world of black and white.
Sure, we live in a society that tells you it's nothing more than man and woman, but look around, nature just doesn't bear that out - there are shades and scales, simple boxes just don't work to categorise complex humans.

If you're one of the lucky people [of whom there are fewer than you would ever believe] who feel completely comfortable with the gender you were assigned with the day you were born, try to imagine how it would feel for everyone you meet to insist you were a different gender, to never be taken seriously - to be openly mocked and derided just for having an option to be referred to with a term that feels comfortable.
Where's your compassion?
How hard is it to take on board that some people aren't the same?
Are people really so lazy or hateful that asking people what terms they prefer and changing one single word when talking to them is just too much?

a reply to: Shamrock6

fooked if i know - but UT do have a womens studies dept - i did google it

and WTF are they going to do now - was the first thought in my head - so i had to post

a reply to: continuousThunder

So, I have a question: Will you feel bad if we give you the pronons that fit the sex you look like or if we just use masculin to include everybody (including you) in a group?

a reply to: Shamrock6

Like colorblindness, gender blindness only ignores the issues not solve it.