So since we can no longer use the term 'man' in titles in the military, what does one now call a woMAN?

2016-01-09T13:21:24-05:00

Tongue in cheek, people. Just for an early morning laugh.

Edit:

Please note, this post on the subject is meant to be humorous. There are other, serious discussions on the subject.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 9 at 2016 1:22 PM

2016-01-09T13:22:44-05:00

I thought we all called them females...

O.o

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 9 at 2016 1:30 PM

2016-01-09T13:30:26-05:00

There are three discussion on this, each different in it's approach to the matter. I have the same response for all of them. Feminism has gone to far and political correctness or the desire to become a part of history by being the man who brought change to the military (Navy and Marines) has gotten out of hand.

Here are some thoughts to consider.

The word man may to some seemingly exclude women, however it is intended to carry the specific idea of humanity or people from the planet earth. This is reflected in the word human.

Perhaps the problem over gender in the English language has something to do with the fact that it is without the concept of grammatical gender. Our culture now views gender as being something personal and not in the grammatical context it should be viewed. In Latin, the word for manliness is feminine in gender; in German, the word Mann means “a person, or a human male,” but man [lowercase] means “one” or “you.”. In French, the masculine gender supersedes the feminine; the phrase la femme et l'homme (the woman and the man) is replaced by the pronoun ils (they [masculine]). In some languages the male female connotation is changed by simply changing the suffix of the word for example in German Ingenieurin from Ingenieur, engineer or in Arabic Habibi changed to Habibti, the change is made depending on if you are speaking to a male or a female and sometimes is there because of the age of the person you are speaking to. We don't have these options in English.

The argument that job titles should be changed to having female variations does nothing more than draw attention to gender differences .It does not focus on the truly important aspect of can or did the person accomplish whatever task was at hand instead of on was it a male or a female person who did it.

We still have the option to choose gender neutral language if we want. Examples of this are: No one instead of No man, Everyone for yourself instead of Everyone for himself....

Further if a person's gender is important in the case you are trying to make then yes go ahead and make that a relevant statement. Such as: She's was the rifleman....The rifleman jumped over the rubble and took her position behind a large steel beam. To say, She is a riflewoman, to write The riflewoman jumped over the rubble and took up her position behind a large steel beam calls unnecessary attention to gender. In most cases we can tell by the name on the writing the gender of the person. Lisa Smith..... For you Sailor types, Should we change the words to Anchor's Away to make it gender neutral "Anchor's away my boy" to Anchor's away my Sailors .... ? Lose terms such as "Man the rails"? Most ships are referred to in a female context anyway thus the term "ship's husband"

It is also reflected in many Naval songs and poems,

Take her down and softly glide,
Thru the deep blue underneath the ocean.
We'll control the ocean wide
From down, down underneath the sea.
Torpedoes crash and missiles roar,
that's the music underneath the ocean
From down below we'll up the score
Of the ships on the bottom of the sea.
Satan's hosts will pass the word,
in the future yet to be
That we're safe as long as there's
a submariner underneath the sea
So rig for dive and take her down
Go Down, Down Underneath the Ocean,
Fearless men will find renown
in the deep blue underneath the sea.

Response by Maj Kim Patterson made Jan 9 at 2016 1:31 PM

2016-01-09T13:31:05-05:00

You can call me Ma'am or Major. And the terms gals and guys would work in a mixed group or the time honored ladies, gentlemen, and SN. So, tongue in cheek, backatcha

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Jan 9 at 2016 1:49 PM

2016-01-09T13:49:49-05:00

You do like smacking a Hornets Nest, don't you Shipmate! LOL! These Ladies are going to smell blood in the Water and Start Circling.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Jan 9 at 2016 1:55 PM

2016-01-09T13:55:38-05:00

Wo!

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Jan 9 at 2016 1:58 PM

2016-01-09T13:58:24-05:00

SN Greg Wright 'Mate' would do, if you didn't mean to.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Jan 9 at 2016 2:08 PM

2016-01-09T14:08:18-05:00

"What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell so sweet.." This has gotten absurd. Where is the disrespect in referring to "serviceman/servicewoman", "postman/postmistress", "manhole cover", "sir/ma'am", etc, etc, etc. We have allowed the inmates to take control of the asylum, haven't we? Isn't it time we pushed back and used the language as it works best and express respect (or disrespect as the case warrants) in our actions rather than allowing idiots to redefine words for us? As for me, I'm not going to become angry over this issue, but don't expect me to keep a straight face and refrain from laughing disrespectfully in the face of any who want to confront me on this issue. If I respect you, you'll know it in spite of the words I use. Same for disrespect...

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Jan 9 at 2016 2:13 PM

2016-01-09T14:13:56-05:00

SN Greg Wright Partner out of votes up this morning, but you are definitely on ther on a limb Greg! LMAO. It is a good question and I hope you get some good answers. Here's mine from an Army standpoint - we all bleed the same color RED and we are "SOLDIERS!"

Response by COL Jon Thompson made Jan 9 at 2016 2:30 PM

2016-01-09T14:30:15-05:00

There are a couple of others that need to go: Airman/Airmen = Airperson/Airpeople; Midshipman/Midshipmen = Midshipperson/Midshippeople

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jan 9 at 2016 2:50 PM

2016-01-09T14:50:07-05:00

Simple. Sailor! :)

Response by SSG Warren Swan made Jan 9 at 2016 3:15 PM

2016-01-09T15:15:18-05:00

As a representative of the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Rastafarian, Fat Black American, Conservative, Liberal Delegation I'm offended.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 9 at 2016 3:16 PM

2016-01-09T15:16:45-05:00

We could always go with the voluntold moniker of "Hey you!"

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 9 at 2016 3:50 PM

2016-01-09T15:50:43-05:00

Okay, I have about reached my limit.

We have a female who identifies as a male and it is wrong for us to not comply with his/her wishes to be viewed as a male, and now we can't call him/her a man.

Which is it?

LMAO at the silliness we have invented.

Response by CPT Aaron Kletzing made Jan 9 at 2016 4:30 PM

2016-01-09T16:30:09-05:00

I am offended by this...jk ;-)

Response by PO2 Steven Erickson made Jan 9 at 2016 4:41 PM

2016-01-09T16:41:03-05:00

Just trying to save some people some trouble. I reached out the the man with the plan, and he was NOT happy.

Response by SMSgt Thor Merich made Jan 9 at 2016 4:44 PM

2016-01-09T16:44:33-05:00

It actually bothers me that some services (ie - Marines) identify themselves a little too proudly. Its kind of offensive to anyone who is not in that particular service. In order not to offend others instead of using the term Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen to identify individuals in their respective service, we should all be called Non-Gender Specific Military Service members. Hopefully the word "member" doesn't offend those in the human population without members.

Seriously though, I really hope this political correctness phase that our country is currently in will run its course and fade away soon. Its too hard to keep up with all the changing titles and names we are allowed to call each other.

Response by SSgt Terry P. made Jan 9 at 2016 5:28 PM

2016-01-09T17:28:30-05:00

SN Greg Wright Greg,if she is proficient with it and is carrying a .50 Barrett--i would just call her "Bad Ass".

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jan 9 at 2016 5:50 PM

2016-01-09T17:50:54-05:00

SN Greg Wright in an effort to raise your tongue-in-cheek discussion; I think in old and middle English the female humans were known as womban in the singular and womben in the plural because of their unique ability nurture and birth a child :-)
The WWII classifications of females serving in the military of WACs, WAVEs, and WASPs are now passe and relegated to historical discussions - except when the subject of apparent discrimination is being discussed. (-:
Soldier, sailor, marine are appropriate for both men and women service people :-)

Response by SFC Maury Gonzalez made Jan 9 at 2016 7:01 PM

2016-01-09T19:01:04-05:00

Pastafarian

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 9 at 2016 9:20 PM

2016-01-09T21:20:17-05:00

Shall we just call them Adam's rib?

Response by SSG Todd Halverson made Jan 9 at 2016 10:22 PM

2016-01-09T22:22:44-05:00

Great question, but you did leave out a group. What about the transgender in the Military?
As far as females in the Militar;
You could call them She Rah, Zena the Warrior Princess, and for the transgender, you can call them gender neutral Service ManWoman ie Seamanwoman, Airmanwoman and Coast Guard Coastettes. The Army and Marines were prepared as Soldier and Marine are already gender neutral.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 10 at 2016 2:27 AM

2016-01-10T02:27:40-05:00

What the Navy going to call a non-rated sailor-Seaperson apprentice, etc?

Response by Maj Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 10 at 2016 9:57 AM

2016-01-10T09:57:52-05:00

*Sigh* I know this question was posed as a lighthearted subject but unfortunately there are people out there who take this stuff seriously. I'm sorry for the crap this subject will ultimately create.

Response by Capt Mark Strobl made Jan 11 at 2016 11:11 AM

2016-01-11T11:11:52-05:00

OK... Is "Schmuchatelli" or "Benotz" gender neutral enough?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 11 at 2016 11:46 AM

2016-01-11T11:46:02-05:00

If the officer gets upset when responded to by the soldier saying 'yes ma'am' or 'no sir', then I believe said officer needs retraining and re educated. Now, if they call me 'private, (and I'm a sgt.) I may 'try' to correct them by saying 'sgt sir/ma'am' but if it gets totally 'out of hand', well then it's time to keep this soldier's mouth shut, let the officer vent. I guess it depends on the said officer's sense of humor....