I mean, of course, sex like gender, not like, you know, physical activity between people. Gender is the state of being either male or female, or a grammatical category into which nouns and pronouns (and adjectives in some languages) are divided. Gender in English isn’t very difficult – usually, people and pets are he or she, and things and wild animals are it in the third person singular. There are, of course, some exceptions and special cases as in any area of grammar. (At least, there is always something to study!) Some people use she for their cars, motorbikes, boats, etc. On the other hand, babies and children are often referred to as it.
Some learners of English find it a problem when they want to use language that includes both men and women. The noun man usually means an adult male human, but it (as well as mankind) has traditionally been used to mean humans as a group, i.e. all men and women. Nowadays, many native speakers prefer to use expressions such as human beings, humanity, humankind, the human race, or simply people, as they find it sexist and may get offended if you don’t use language which includes both men and women equally. If a person’s sex isn’t stated or known, he/him/his used to be considered gramatically correct, as in the following sentence: ‘If somebody calls, tell him I’m sick.’ In modern English, especially in an informal style, the plural is preferred, even though only one person is being referred to: ‘If somebody calls, tell them I’m sick.’ It is more comfortable than to say: ‘If somebody calls, tell him or her I’m sick.’ In writing, he/she, (s)he, his/her, him/her can also be used, but they can seem rather awkward when used a lot: ‘If in doubt, ask your doctor. He/she will share his/her experience with you.’
In the names of jobs, neutral words like person or officer are nowadays often used instead of –man or –woman (spokesperson, police officer). Similarly, a teacher who is in charge of a school is nowadays called a head teacher, rather than a headmaster or headmistress. Some other names of women’s jobs ending in –ess (actress, manageress) are going out of use too, and the names of men’s jobs are becoming neutral (actor, manager). The noun mayoress is a special case – it is either a woman who has been elected mayor (the head of a town), or the wife of a mayor (in the UK except for Scotland). When you want to emphasize that a certain job is traditionally done by the opposite sex, you can say, for example, a female/woman pilot, or a male nurse (but not: a man nurse). (In Slovakia, a male teacher is quite an apt collocation, as men are now almost an extinct species at our primary and secondary schools…)
The noun girlfriend is also a special case as it has two meanings – it is either a girl/woman who somebody is having a romantic relationship with, or a girl’s/woman’s female friend. (Even though a woman is in her forties and no longer a girl, she will still be called a girlfriend, not a womanfriend.) A boy/man will say, ‘I’m having dinner with my girlfriend,’ as he has one girlfriend (I mean, normally), whereas a girl/woman will more probably say, ‘I’m having dinner with a girlfriend,’ as she has several girlfriends. The collocation female/woman friend is mostly used by boys/men to talk about a girl/woman who is their friend, but not their girlfriend (something like our kamarátka).
Speaking of girls, what’s the difference between a girls’ magazine and a girlie magazine? Any ideas? Well, a girls’ magazine is one aimed at girls, whereas a girlie magazine is one containing erotic photos of women.
In informal English, it is not unusual to hear somebody addressing girls/women like boys/men and vice versa. Here are some examples from American movies:
‘What are you girls waiting for?’ (said to a group of teenage boys)
‘Hi guys, what’s up?’ (to a group of teenage girls)
‘I think you’re losing it, man.’ (to a woman)
I sometimes feel discriminated concerning titles that come before family names (or before first and family names together). We men can only use Mr – that’s not fair! Women have a choice between Miss/Mrs and Ms, depending on whether they do or don’t want to state if they are single/married or not. Well, women always tend to make things more complicated. Anyway, I noticed the following dialogue while watching a comedy in which a man met an attractive woman:
‘This is extremely serious, Mrs Veatch.’
‘It’s Miss.’
‘I don’t know how you say Miss for a Mr, but if there was a ‘Miss Mr’, I’m a Miss as well.’
In this way, the man wanted to let the woman know that he was single and ready to find a girlfriend.
So, that’s it for this month’s issue. It was really great to discuss the sex topic with you!
