[dragonwriter]

> Most of the offense seems to be taken on his first statement: "Men fall in love with women."

I think you are confusing the which element of the whole sexist set of statements is the main inspiration of the mockery directed at the whole set with which is the main focus of offense.

Though, to be fair, both the "you fall in love with them" and the "they fall in love with you" statements are worthy of offense when both are offered as part of the explanation of his "trouble with girls...when they are in the lab". (Both presume that the "natural state" of a lab is to be full of men, so any complications that arise from a mixed-sex environment are a "problem with girls".)

Of course, unless his "problem" is pedophilia, compounding that by referring to women as "girls" when discussing the "problem" he has with them in the lab compounds this further.

[Nadya]

Fully grown women also refer to their female coworkers largely as "girls". Guys do not refer to men as "boys". They don't use "men "either. They use "guys".

Girls seem to dislike the feminine linguistic equivalent to "guys", which is "gals" seeing as they infrequently use it themselves to refer to themselves. However, they refer to themselves as girls quite frequently. I've been told several times in my life to stop using "gals" when referring to a female group because they disliked the word.

Guys have "guys night out", they don't call it "mens night out". Girls have "girls night out". They don't call it "gals night out". For all intents and purposes - "girl" does not always refer to a young female; context is important.

In Japanese おばあさん can refer to "aunt" or "middle-aged woman" and the context it is used in is important. Your aunt could really be a 6 year old girl. Why are you calling her a middle-aged woman? You aren't. You're calling her aunt.

Similarly, for English, "girls" has become the equivalent of both "guys" and "boys" and depends on context in which it is used.

Feel free to suggest an alternative to "gals" - but I'd consult with "the girls" first. They seem to have settled on "girls" themselves, but what do I know?

[dragonwriter]

> Fully grown women also refer to their female coworkers largely as "girls".

Sometimes, some of them do. Context matters, still, and one place where this is very rare -- for the same reason that it is very common for women to object when other people do this -- is in discussions of professional performance. And, in another sense in which context matters, what might be unoffensive -- or only mildly so -- on its own can be more offensive when it is compounding an already-sexist set of statements.

> Guys do not refer to men as "boys".

IME, sometimes they do. (It may not be particularly common in the dominant -- i.e., white middle-class -- subculture, but there certainly are subcultures in which, e.g., referring to an adult male's adult male associates as his "boys" is not uncommon. And it would still be compound the offense to use the same term for adult male members of that subculture when making an otherwise-racist set of statements.)

> Feel free to suggest an alternative to "gals"

In the context of the statement Hunt was making, the obvious choice that would not compound the already sexist nature of his remarks to refer to adult female humans would be "women".

[Lawtonfogle]

>compounding that by referring to women as "girls"

Linguistically boys and girls, men and women, and guys and gals are not true opposites. One of the nuances is that it is common for women to be referred to in certain settings as girls. This can be used as an insult, but the mere use of the word isn't an insult.

But, being that the same word can both be an insult and not, it makes it quite impossible to tell if this was meant as an insult, and thus any group is likely to assume it was/wasn't an insult based on what fits their view best.

It is similar to the use of male/female, where often it is the best term (especially when describing a grouping of both adult women and young girls), but other groups will still latch onto it as a sign of disrespect.

Compare:

"Females of HN, what do you..."

vs.

"Females students..."

The former is more insulting, as the intended target is really women. The latter includes both students who are adult women and students who are girls, and is thus appropriate, but may still be attacked.

What really got me was in recent news about allowing teens and even preteens to get access to birth control, they were often referred to as 'young women' both in the news and by many people I saw speaking about the articles. Those opposed to such access did not use the term though (granted, I did not do a scientific study to show that each side tended to use different terminology to refer to the same group, this is merely my personal experience).

When I break down the nuances of English like this, it reminds me of why the few times I've tried to use Spanish has left my Hispanic friends rolling with laughter.