Stop calling me dude!

Perhaps I should be flattered that younger people sometimes say to me, "Dude, listen to this," but I'm not. Here's why: I'm not a dude--I'm a woman, damn it. In the 60's and 70's, it was "Hey, man, listen to this," and I had to explain what I thought was obvious--that I wasn't a man. That was back when we wore the Don't Call Me Girl buttons, too. "Woman" was--and still is, to some degree--a word to avoid.

The justification is the same today as it was 30 years ago--"dude" (or "man") means everybody. Exactly. A word meaning "male" is used to refer to everyone because "male" is the ultimate point of reference. Because "male" is valued more than "female." Have you ever gone up to a mixed gender group and asked "Hey, what are you girls doing?" The men would faint. But why is it okay to say to the same group "Hey, what are you guys doing?"

I hoped we had resolved this nonsense way back when, but we didn't. Everyone still has to be a man, only the terms have changed a bit. Only today, an anchorwoman on MSNBC explained that Renee Zellweger and Madonna would be "manning" the phones at the tsunami relief telethon. But Zellweger and Madonna can't "man" anything--they are women.

"So what do you say, huh? That they're going to 'woman' the phones?" Why not? And if it's a mixed gender group--as it was in this case--they'll be operating the phones or in charge of the phones.

The usual response to a complaint such as mine is that it is "politically correct," which, of course, is considered a bad thing. How about considering it accurate, for God's sake? Or enlightened? Or an acknowledgment of gender equality? There will never be gender equality as long as language is sexist because it isn't "just language"--it is the major currency and symbol of everything in our lives.

And by the way--unless you know me really well--don't call me "girl."