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Re: Gender Terms (was MentorNet)

If one knows their school grade (in nearly all cases), then the seventh is the "line
of demarcation"?

bc who thinks even if "physical" maturity has not occurred, young woman (man) is
appropriate at the seventh, while in the sixth, when girls are often well
"developed", girl is still appropriate. i.e. use intellectual maturity as defined by
successful "graduation" from the sixth or whatever.

bc who thinks boys and girls labeling on doors, as is in Salinas, in high schools is
inappropriate.

p.s. if, as in the case in many states, a young person may be executed, they
certainly are not boys and girls.

the usual threesome apply

Brian Whatcott wrote:

At 11:38 AM 10/14/02, Richard Hake, you wrote:
...we were told about
the following excellent resource for encouraging women to consider
science and engineering:

<http://www.nae.edu/nae/cwe/cwemain.nsf/weblinks/DWRR-4XFR8W?Opendocument>. .

This is the National Academy's "Celebration of Women in Engineering:
A site for Parents, Teachers, and Engineers, and others interested in
helping girls (sic) discover the opportunities of engineering
careers" at the "Celebration of Women Engineering" site
[<http://www.nae.edu/nae/cwe/cwemain.nsf> / "Parents, Teachers, and
Mentors" where "/" means "click on"].
...
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University

(sic) is the usual indication of a usage considered erroneous, but faithfully
copied all the same. Trouble is, 'girls' is a perfectly useful construct.

If I may provide the reasonable guidance which follows:
a 'girl' is the immature female form of the genus homo:
a 'boy' is the immature male form.
It is customary to refer to the mature forms who appear to be less
than 21 years old as 'young women' and 'young men'.

As far as I can tell, the preceding forms are never ill advised or offensive.
As to defining maturity, the physical features are universally understood in
young women. Signs of maturity in young men are more problematical.
In this area, I welcome more insights for decision support.

Brian Whatcott
Altus OK Eureka!



This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.