| >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. |