So, I’m a lawyer by training and many years ago I was standing at the entrance of an elaborate courtroom and the judge was apparently wondering where a particular lawyer was. He saw me and said, “Little girl, where’s X?” (Yes, he knew I was a lawyer-I had been in his courtroom on many occasions.)
Men who refer to women as “girls” when they’ve made it clear they don’t like it have offended them twice; once by reffering to them in a condescending manner and again by making it clear that their wishes are unimportant to them. This post is triply offensive because, instead of acknowledging our right to form our own opinions about what forms of address we prefer, the poster presumes to explain how we’re wrong.
Men like this fail to understand that women are no longer limited to support staff roles. We’re business owners and executives. We earn our own money and we’re equals in our relationships. The insurance man who referred to his staff as “girls” in front of me didn’t get my business. Neither did the car salesman who acted like the final decision about the car my husband was buying me for my birthday was my husband’s. You can choose to hold on to obnoxious opinions, but you never know how much it may be costing you.
“… making it clear that their wishes are unimportant to them.”
There you have it.
I can’t believe post #70. The problem is with those who refuse to treat women as grown up equals to them- NOT the women who refuse to let past usage stand. I like post # 73. The reason it is so much better for today’s younger women is because those a few years older started standing up to so many wrongs and we persevered. Radical changes were needed! So many things girls and women take for granted today because some of us bucked the trend and insisted on being equals. I could spend hours typing up incidents (hate to type- never wanted to be any organization’s secretary because I was female and presumed good at it, too boring to learn as a teen). I won’t because I have more fun things to do.