Ok...Here's my rant! Lady is sexist?

[Classydame]

Oh my goodness, I just had a conversation with a friend discussing my professor's behaviour in the classroom. I think it is very disrespectful and he should treat the women and men as ladies and gentleman. She said she hates that term lady, it is sexist and old-fashioned! I could not believe it!

So, I looked up "lady" in the dictionary, here are a few definitions:
1a: a woman having propietary rights or authority esp. as feudal superior
1b: a woman receiving the homage or devotion of a knight or lover
2 : Virgin Mary
3a: a woman of superior social position
3b: a woman of refinement and gentle manners
3c: a courteous reference

Now these terms do not seem sexist at all just respectful and old fashioned, I think not. What do you all think?

 

[griffer]

Blame Jerry Lewis, "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, Laaaaaaaaady, pretty Laady!"

Otherwise, it is not a sexist term.

Just because a term refers to a gender, preference or race does not make it '-ist'.

Too much PC.

Tell that broad* to relax!


*Yes, i know that actually is a sexist term. It's called a joke. Although, not but a year ago I heard a senior, senior executive who sat on the diversity concil refer to his female subordinate and his female assistants as 'broads'. My jaw hit the the floor, repeatedly.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Not that I agree but the problem some women have with the term 'Lady' is that it perhaps reinforces the stereotypes that went with all the ideas of women back in the day. That is to say: weak, feeble minded, needs-a-man-to protect-her, place is in the home, shackled to the cooker festooned with babies, etc.

To me it's just a word, no better or worse than woman, female, dame, quine (northern Scottish dialect, the counterpart of 'loon', usually with the -ie ending - loonie, quineie - and referring mainly to young people or one's children of any age), etc.

bk

 

[Kishtu]

I'm with you on this one... we had an instruction round at work that we couldn't use the words as they had, apparently, sexist connotations.

My mum always used to instruct me to "stand up for the lady on the bus" to indicate respect for an older person, to whom I was expected to give up my seat if necessary.

There's plenty of sexist and offensive terms out there, I'm not sure what's so dreadful about using respectful language...

 

[Paisley]

One of my high school teachers said that a student objected to the term "people." As in, "OK, people, open your books to page 72." He asked whether the student would have preferred the term "maggots."

 

[carter]

Down south it is not uncommon to address a female that you do not know as "Miss Lady". I've neve known a southern lady to be offended by the term.
Nor do I know any men who are offended by being addressed as "gentlemen".

I'm certainly glad that there are many Ladies and Gentlemen associated with the Fedora Lounge. It's nice to be in good company.

 

[dhermann1]

There's just as much a class issue here as a gender. That's the fly in the ointment. Lady and Gentleman both imply some degree of social status, mainly that the person referred to has property. The other distictions are all just niceties. But the Baron's other distinctions are all correct as well. A "Lady", meaning a female of the more genteel classes, was supposed to be delicate and helpless. A "woman" of a lower class, on the other hand, could be worked like a mule. In America especially we're very confused about class issues, mainly because the subject is so taboo. Without getting entangled in a fruitless argument, a lot of people have commented that the issue of women's rights has had suppressed class issues dogging it all along.
I think making a word like "lady" a scapegoat for so many issues is just not fair to people to whom the word has such important positive connotations.

 

[Paisley]

I think of a lady not so much as what she owns but how she acts.

 

[dhermann1]

A true left wing socialist anarchist bomb thrower would say that that whole attitude was developed to make the lower classes think they were inherently inferior to "quality folks". I'm not a bomb thrower, but I think what I just said sums up the whole paradox of the concept.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

...uh..I just don't get it! The idea of "Lady" is a term of respect for me..with my upbringing. A title honoring womanhood. Most every woman is a lady to me until proven otherwise. Sadly sometimes that can only take a few moments in todays society.
The title of "Lady" if now determined to be a sexist label..is just a creation or allowance of another "grey area" that only leads to confusion or more reason to find cause for offense...IMHO.
HD

 

[Vintage Betty]

Wishing to be called a Lady

I work in IT and have been continuously referred to for years as "guy". Such as "you guys"....""can you guys"...and "all you guys".

I'd love to be referred to as a lady.

Vintage Betty

 

[KL15]

I agree with everyone else. Lady is a compliment. I cannot beleive in a world where it is becoming common to refer to a woman with a word that rhymes with witch, someone would find lady sexist.[huh]

 

[LizzieMaine]

I would ten million times rather be called "Lady" than "dude."

 

[dhermann1]

Just to make sure everybody understands, I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I'm firmly in the "A lady is a lady" camp.

 

[Feraud]

I would ten million times rather be called "Lady" than "dude."

Right! Some young ladies accept being called words that are far worse than "lady".

 

[Girl Friday]

I always thought "lady" sounded better than "woman", but that is just me.

Woman seems a few steps away from "old hag"

 

[griffer]

What about us poor southern boys? How many of you think 'M'am' is a sexist or insulting term?

I get chastised all the time about using 'M'am'.

Silly yankee girls think it's an insult!

For me it's just a reflex.

And no it has nothing to do with age of status, my father and I both call each other 'Sir' and refer to other men, regardless of age in the same manner.

 

[Elaina]

People may have ideas, right or wrong, and percieve them different.

While on the bus, I told my son to "get up and let the gentleman sit down, and come stand by me." Nothing major, but the man was obviously homeless, not in good health and needed the seat far more then I, or my healthy 8 year old, did. I hurt the man's feelings by saying that, I watched him take the seat, thank my son and shrink up moreso then he was before. He looked happy-ish before I said anything and got downright sad after I said the workd "gentleman". Caught me waiting for the connecting bus, and asked me why I called him that, he was a drunk bum. Now, I usually would have popped off, but he was so serious with his question I didn't know what to say. I said "better to make a polite statement then hey give the old drunk your seat kid, he's shaking pretty bad."

I also gave my seat up to an elderly woman after that (same day even), who truth be told, probably surpassed the definiton of "lady" many decades ago. I stood up and my son asked me why. "Because you give your seat for ladies and elderly gentlemen." Then had to explain that no, he had to keep his seat, I could stand and it was different for young kids, but this woman went from looking like the dreg of society, the world was on her shoulders and puffed up, and beamed that she got the bearing of a lady. It pleased her.

Social connotations abound, but maybe the whole offense to it is because people don't consider themselves ladies and gentlemen.

Griffer last time someone said anything about me Sir-ing or Ma'am-ing them, I was on the west coast and I replied "Better to be thought silly with manners then to be a boorish goat without them." And I turned to my husband and said "We need to go home. I don't like it here where Sir is a vulgarity."

 

[carter]

Originally posted by Elaina
"Better to be thought silly with manners then to be a boorish goat without them."

Thank you, Ma'am. The best comment I've read so far.

 

[griffer]

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap