What adjective did they want him to use? He is a man. Has man bashing has become so commonplace that it has become acceptable to berate men for using a masculine word to describe himself or his interests? I don't think anyone would take offense if I used a feminine adjective to describe my quilting and sewing projects.
Foy years women have tried to inject the use of a female or gender neutral pronouns when describing themselves. Humankind instead of mankind. Police, fire, delivery, service and mail women as well as men. We of all people should be aware of the devaluation that language has to any gender.
Just because Chris wants to build manly projects on his new work bench does not mean that a woman cannot build any kind of projects she wants on hers. John has built girly projects for our granddaughters and womanly projects for me in his wood shop. But it is still his manly wood shop.
I don't want to live in a gender neutral society where I have to be cautious of every pronoun or adjective I use to describe myself or others. I want to be able to use phrases like "boyish good looks" or "she is such a girly girl" without offending others. The advance women have made to include themselves in the descriptive lexicon of our language should not be used to eliminate the use of our masculine descriptive vocabulary.
Any project Chris (or John) does is manly--they are manly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Taylor. Manly and also very cool. As one of the two women you refer to, I want to clarify that I like the term, and think Chris is an impressively manly man. I do not object to "manly" as a term, 'just putting an arm around Sharon, who has said she sometimes feels she does not fit in, relating more to boy things than to those stereotypically girl. I want her (and all) to feel free to like and do any project, regardless of the label. I am sorry this was misconstrued. Apologies all around! Great project, Chris! I can't wait to see what you make next.
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