Let's ban these words

Cant people just be anymore ? too many need a drama and cant just get on with their lives however the choose to live them.

To be honest, I have never really understood what masculinity or femininity actually mean. They are not words I use or have applied to myself or anybody else.

As for all this stuff about gender stereotyping. I accept that children under 11 might try to meet gender stereotypes if they exist within their family, but I have met very few people, especially women, who felt any need to conform to any particular stereotype once they reached secondary school age.

When I went to my 14 year old grandsons award evening, there was group of girls in leg warmers, short shorts and headbands dancing their hearts out to some cheesy music, along with one boy, dressed the same, and equally enthusiastic
Afterwards, I asked my grandson if the boy ever get teased, and his response was "why?"
Times have certainly moved on from when I was at school, and rightly so.

Apologies to all you lovely 'normal' people who hug your trees Within my family and friends it's a derogatory term to discibe people who come out with this clap trap.

As MOnica wrote, I've never thought about the meanings of masculinity and femininity , though I have a very clear view of the distinction between m and f, which is more of a biological distinction.
Masculinity and femininity are probably more socially determined and flexible, to do with behaviour.

Jalima, is it PC to describe your previous PC as old and doddery or to make derogatory comments regarding the spelling abilities of your current PC?

It has been put to rest, it didn't hear.
DH has cut up the hard drive and taken the rest to the recycling centre.
This new PC needs some training, it is not behaving as well as I thought it might.

I heard Grays on Perry being interviewed last Oct
Wonder if it was this same podcast. He was talking about masculinity because he had a new book out. Most interesting and well worth a listen.

Interesting to consider if some charateristics and beahaviour are innately masculine or feminine or 'learned'.Isn't it simething to do with left side/right side brain dominance ?
I will never forget observing my elder daughter ,then about two and a half ,and my friend's little boy, same age ,playing with with dolls. Neither had a sibling at the time . She cradled her's .He bounced his up and down on his knees .Which is often a more 'masculine' way of relating to a baby Instinct or learned behaviour?'I am not sure they were old enough to identify with either parent.
Providing it does not lead to stereotyping or false expectations I cañnot see the issue .

If there is one thing Trump can teach us, it is that we could be a little more robust

Ban swear words. I hate them.

I hate them too! DD tells me they are only words and harmless and Im old fashioned to be offended. Mi nd you none of our sons or daughters swear in front of us! This conversation arises when we are discussig TV programmes esp comedy ones where these words seemmto pop up all the time for a cheap laugh. I dont find it funny.

Read Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty Four' and pay particular attention to what he says about 'Newspeak'.

Well i agree about 1984 with reference to Trump and alternative facts which while funny is also chilling. But i dontbthink less swearing on TV is in the same league!!!

Trump robust!!!! A man who is psychologically robust from a privileged group in a dominant & powerful position would not need to bully, put down & pursue people who expeess disapreement with him.

Well, this could make teaching romance languages difficult. In French, you have masculine and feminine nouns!

When to use la or le !

www.french-linguistics.co.uk/grammar/le_or_la_in_french.shtml

What a weird post! It seems strange to have all the peculiar modern words like pansexual, asexual, gender fluid etc. I think a lot of it is trendy nonsense and almost an excuse to have sex with both sexes. There is no way I'm going to stop saying feminine or masculine, it's ridiculous. As far as I'm concerned people are either feminine or masculine. If people feel they need to have a sex change that's up to them and I don't have a problem with that. A friend of mine has a son who decided when he was about 13 that he was meant to be a woman and is now 29 and has been living as a woman for years. She has not had the operation yet but is hoping to in the near future. I have met her several times and she is very nice and looks very feminine, and I hope that she will have a happy future.

Masculine and feminine are only problem words if they are used to cause problems. If calling a woman masculine or a man feminine is seen as an insult, then it is one.

I don't knit or bake cakes, but I do mend computers. I'm a bit of a lad on the motorway, but I'm a woman and my friends will agree I'm quite feminine. Everything except my chromosomes ...

And if someone wants to be offended then they will be even if no offence was intended.

The OP was suggesting we ban the words 'masculinity' and femininity', not 'masculine' and 'feminine'.

My grankids are always telling me I shouldn't say this that or the other, the ladt one was when I asked if someone was of mixed race, horror of horrors, should have been mixed heritage. Lets just keep our rich heritage of words and stop banning them.

Well, that's a new one I've learned
I thought I was quite "with it" by saying mixed race!
Incidently, a "mixed heritage" man I dated preferred the term "mulatto" to described himself, which means 'mule-like" or something!

peaseblossom what on earth is pansexual ? please dont tell me its an obsession with cookware

If it has a pulse . . . . or even if it hasn't, because the gender or even species of the object of the lust matters less than the arousal and satisfaction of the person who claims the pseudo-scientific label pansexual. We would have called them a "randy b*****d" and steered clear of them.

Pansexual is someone attracted to any sex or gender. So now you know. Never heard of the word before, must be one of these trendy new words