Author Topic: Women and long cycle tours  (Read 11151 times)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #50 on: 15 April, 2019, 10:58:17 am »
That one's lose-lose-lose-lose. One lose each for females, women, ladies, girls. And the same for males, men, gentlemen, boys. Whatever term you use, someone will not like it.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #51 on: 15 April, 2019, 11:35:48 am »
That one's lose-lose-lose-lose. One lose each for females, women, ladies, girls. And the same for males, men, gentlemen, boys. Whatever term you use, someone will not like it.

Really? Women and Men seem to be inoffensively benign terms to describe the two most common genders.

Males and females is only really appropriate in a scientific context. Ladies and Gentlemen, not sure of a useful context here, esp when it comes to touring cyclists. Would you say "gentleman touring" ? and if the boys and girls are touring, I'm assuming they are doing so with a parent or guardian.

J
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Karla

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Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #52 on: 15 April, 2019, 12:19:19 pm »
That one's lose-lose-lose-lose. One lose each for females, women, ladies, girls. And the same for males, men, gentlemen, boys. Whatever term you use, someone will not like it.

Really? Women and Men seem to be inoffensively benign terms to describe the two most common genders.

Cudzo is correct.  I know this from personal experience.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #53 on: 15 April, 2019, 12:32:01 pm »
That one's lose-lose-lose-lose. One lose each for females, women, ladies, girls. And the same for males, men, gentlemen, boys. Whatever term you use, someone will not like it.

Really? Women and Men seem to be inoffensively benign terms to describe the two most common genders.

Cudzo is correct.  I know this from personal experience.

[Citation Needed]

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #54 on: 15 April, 2019, 12:37:06 pm »
Another anecdata point here.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #55 on: 15 April, 2019, 12:43:56 pm »
Surely any ranking of likeliness to cause complaints would put "women" as the least and "females" somewhere near the most?

(Though if your goal is to annoy absolutely everybody, "women and people who identify as women" is hard to beat)

Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #56 on: 15 April, 2019, 02:25:40 pm »
Females sounds like those victorian pamphlets warning against women cycling. "That sort of women"
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Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #57 on: 15 April, 2019, 02:59:34 pm »
That one's lose-lose-lose-lose. One lose each for females, women, ladies, girls. And the same for males, men, gentlemen, boys. Whatever term you use, someone will not like it.

Really? Women and Men seem to be inoffensively benign terms to describe the two most common genders.

Cudzo is correct.  I know this from personal experience.

[Citation Needed]

J

Nope. 

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #58 on: 16 April, 2019, 06:45:17 pm »
That one's lose-lose-lose-lose. One lose each for females, women, ladies, girls. And the same for males, men, gentlemen, boys. Whatever term you use, someone will not like it.

Really? Women and Men seem to be inoffensively benign terms to describe the two most common genders.

Males and females is only really appropriate in a scientific context. Ladies and Gentlemen, not sure of a useful context here, esp when it comes to touring cyclists. Would you say "gentleman touring" ? and if the boys and girls are touring, I'm assuming they are doing so with a parent or guardian.

J
It's not a question of appropriateness. A word can be perfectly appropriate, people will object. I do remember Butterfly saying she finds the word "women" ugly and prefers to use various other words instead. That was several years ago and she might have changed her mind though! It's quite possible that "females" will raise the most objections in the contexts you were considering, but the other words will not be objection-free.

As for a context for "lady", eg a shop assistant referring to a customer in the third person, in that customer's hearing: "The lady wants to exchange the black item for the white one but... [problem requiring management intervention]?" And "female" might be a way of avoiding having to decide whether someone is going to be offended by being referred to as a girl (I'm an adult!) or a woman (I'm not that old!). Or even "old woman" vs "elderly lady". So many pitfalls to avoid and each one opens up another...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #59 on: 18 April, 2019, 09:42:53 am »
I generally prefer 'women' and 'men', but can terminology not be rather nuanced and context-specific? A group of women might reasonably refer to each other as 'the girls', whereas 'gentleman touring cyclist' is pure Tweed Run.

Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #60 on: 19 April, 2019, 01:43:32 pm »
What about the chaps? ;)

I find using “males and females” about particular people to be really quite odd so I wouldn’t unless I knew that person didn’t like whatever I’d normally use.

Do we have an example of something else someone prefers, and why? A quick google only gave me “call us women, not females” articles.

Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #61 on: 12 August, 2019, 03:32:10 pm »
To me, "females" (and "males") sounds weirdly and impersonal and dismissive.  It sounds like a scientist discussing a research subject.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #62 on: 13 August, 2019, 12:24:33 pm »
How about "loons & quines"?  Makes perfect sense if you're from Furryboottoon ;D
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hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Women and long cycle tours
« Reply #63 on: 20 August, 2019, 12:27:16 pm »
To me, "females" (and "males") sounds weirdly and impersonal and dismissive.  It sounds like a scientist discussing a research subject.

Agreed.

It grates when I get a case from Medscape titled a'A 13 year old male with...'