Political Correctness Gone too Far

[Kisho]

Also, about the removal of gender pronouns: not quite as crazy as you'd think.

In my job in the income protection insurance business, I see a lot of policy documents. Official documents, very important. You will not find a single use of female pronouns in the entire thing. It is all 'he and his', all male. Even when referring to potentially female claimants.

There's a clause that states that the male pronoun usage is intended to refer to any claimant, but what message does it send? Males are important enough to mention, females not? Is it really so difficult to replace every male pronoun to the more gender neutral 'their' and 'them'?

I don't know. I can understand why it seems so OTT and crazy, but all these little subconscious clues build up without you even realising.

[Rukentuts]

@Kisho, it happens in many languages. Take Spanish, for example. 'Amigos' refers to friends that are male or a mix of genders. 'Amigas' only refers to friends that are female.

[Chrysia]

@Kisho, it happens in many languages. Take Spanish, for example. 'Amigos' refers to friends that are male or a mix of genders. 'Amigas' only refers to friends that are female.

It happens in every language because all current languages developed in patriarchal societies. I think removing gender specific pronouns altogether is retarded, but requiring legal documents to use his/her isn't unduly burdening in my opinion.

Regardless of it's intent now, the use of his/him and exclusion of hers/her has been to exclude women from legal ownership, and to assert patriarchal primacy.

Again, I don't think any government should regulate private use, but legal documentation should use both or neutral pronouns.

[Wilian]

Political correctness is a sickness that should be purged from the planet with fire, along with anyone practicing it on the purpose of being politically correct. (Accidental usage happens, those only requires teaching)

[Alenya]

The hairdresser thing seems silly, they should be charging based on the skill required to create the haircut/difficulty or time required.

This is what most hairdressers do so there's really no problem. Most of them go by the time the haircut takes. In fact I've never heard of the law mentioned in the OP. The political correctness in this country is going way over the top though. People are just offended and feeling discriminated by the stupidest things these days.

[Rukentuts]

Regardless of it's intent now, the use of his/him and exclusion of hers/her has been to exclude women from legal ownership, and to assert patriarchal primacy.

I find it somewhat difficult to believe this occurs in the first world.

[Chrysia]

I find it somewhat difficult to believe this occurs in the first world.

Again, it's intent now is largely due to habit/laziness. The original intent, however, was to exclude women from legal ownership of anything. All legal documentation outlined ownership in the rights of the male.

[Vizardlorde]

@Kisho, it happens in many languages. Take Spanish, for example. 'Amigos' refers to friends that are male or a mix of genders. 'Amigas' only refers to friends that are female.

Yup plurals for masculine are also used for a mix of both gender, but the plural for feminine is only used for feminines but I don't think its related to sexism its mostly due to Spanish just being weird. For example inanimate objects since inanimate objects are assigned a "gender". For example in English there would be no difference between saying "the building" and " the house" in Spanish building is considered masculine and you say "el edificio" and house is considered feminine and you say " la casa". It gets even weirder because we have some androgynous nouns like the sea and heat...

[Durandro]

'Political Correctness' is a term used by people who want to say something is wrong without using the word 'wrong'. What is means is 'Incorrect'.

Its a devious tactic, to say the least.

Literally speaking, Political Correctness means 'the norms of society at this time'. This is neither a negative or a positive thing, its just a fact. Homophobia, sexism, classism, racism, all these things were Politically Correct a century ago.

Also the term 'Cultural Marxism' is essentially nonsense. Its a non-descript term used by people who are attacking something they don't or won't understand or accept.

Sorry, but enough is enough with rubbish like this. Girls are allowed to play with guns, and boys are allowed to play with dolls. Its perfectly okay these days, and yes that is Politically Correct in a positive sense. Its not like they are being forced to - just being told its okay if they prefer it that way.

I fail to see anything to be outraged about, honestly. Unless you're bigotted and fearful of society changing, of course.

[Rukentuts]

Again, it's intent now is largely due to habit/laziness. The original intent, however, was to exclude women from legal ownership of anything. All legal documentation outlined ownership in the rights of the male.

Original orschiginal. I find the world we live in now a more pressing issue.

---------- Post added 2012-11-26 at 12:15 PM ----------

Yup plurals for masculine are also used for a mix of both gender, but the plural for feminine is only used for feminines but I don't think its related to sexism its mostly due to Spanish just being weird. For example inanimate objects since inanimate objects are assigned a "gender". For example in English there would be no difference between saying "the building" and " the house" in Spanish building is considered masculine and you say "el edificio" and house is considered feminine and you say " la casa". It gets even weirder because we have some androgynous nouns like the sea and heat...

Yeah, it's funny what I still remember almost ten years later from high school Espanol.

[Doktor Faustus]

Equality, pure equality.

How flawed a species, and how decadent we have become.

[Tomatketchup]

Author of that article is one sneaky bastard. You might want to check his sources before you comment.

Women can swim topless in public pools unless there is a law to require men cover their nipples.

It has been ruled in one municipality in northern Sweden that women can swim topless - as long as noone takes offence to it.
""We're used to naked people. Nobody cares," Per-Erik Ulander told local paper Dagbladet, adding that women could still be asked to cover up if other bathers take offence."

And there is no law that requires pools to allow women to bath bare breasted. The men to cover their nipples part was a comparison statement made by an organization for bare breasted swimming - with 40 members.
"The group faced a setback in November after the Swedish sexual equality ombudsman (Jämo) ruled that it was not discriminatory for women to be banned from bare-breasted bathing. Karlsson rejected the ombudsman's conclusions:

"The only sensible thing is to have the same rule for men as for women. If women can't be without a top, then men shouldn't get away with it either," she said."

Stockholm District Court recently ruled that pregnancy was an illness.

http://www.thelocal.se/29338/20100930/
There was a case where a few pregnant women didn't get sick benefits despite being in their late month pregnancy's, despite...
"Among other things, the women suffered from back aches, inguinal hernias, fatigue, sleeping problems, and pelvic arthropathy, all of which diminished their capacity to perform their jobs."
Now, you can argue whether pregnant women should get sick benefits or not, but it was never stated that it was considered an illness in the article he quoted at all.

Activists are pushing to end gender specific pronouns in the language.

It's an incredibly small group that noone really cares about. Ask any Swede and at most the "activists" will be nothing more than hipsters.

Also, the author of the article has some half-demeaning phrases.

One thousand years ago, this boy would be a Viking. Now he is a girl.

Not sure if light-hearted humor or a sarcastic remark.

I find it hard to believe many little girls grow up wanting to shoot people.

Why not? He doesn't motivate why it has to be like that.

This make-believe may salve the conscience of the Left, but it does society a great deal of harm, both here and there.

Aaaaand same here. He doesn't explain why he thinks that it's harming society.

Not to mention that while the rape statistics are unfortunate, he doesn't link any source to the domestic violence statistics.

This guy should stick to writing about the financial market.

[Djolisimo]

This is when society, by trying too hard not to be sick - becomes sick.

[kaiz]

''Cultural Marxism''? please stop spewing out bullshit you don't know a fuck about.

[Kurgosh]

Political correctness is a sickness that should be purged from the planet with fire, along with anyone practicing it on the purpose of being politically correct. (Accidental usage happens, those only requires teaching)

So I should be burned to death if I don't call somebody a racial slur, or make sexist or homophobic comments? But only if I intentionally refrain from being a complete jackass? If I just accidentally don't use racial slurs, then I can just be trained to do so?

[smrund]

Man, this is insane. Does anyone think this Cultural Marxism?

"Cultural Marxism"...that's an interesting phrase...*does a quick qiki* ah...just as I thought, it's a conservative bullshit term.

Why aren't these men and women allowed to express themselves as they wish without being called a bigot or privileged?

Which isn't happening in this article.

Sure, nobody should be discriminated against and it shouldn't be encouraged, but stuff like this seems....inhuman.

What exactly is "inhuman" about:
Boys playing with dolls?
Girls playing with guns?
Women going topless?

It doesn't matter which country these sorts of things take place in, as the principles behind these policies ought to be attacked.

The principles of equality? Yeah, you're doing a good job of that here in the States.

Free expression is being silenced under the guise of egalitarianism.

No, it isn't.

[Jackmoves]

The blogger might as well say the hillsbourgh baptist church is the norm in the US, it would be about as realistic and true to sociaty.

Boys here do mostly what boys have always done. Which means I see the little bastards playing football, playing at war etc in my hood.
Not much have changed there since I was a kid, 20 years ago, only difference is that now they play call of duty instead of super mario bros and duckhunt.

Also, there are no more rapes proved and sentenced for then the average European country, there are significantly more reports though, make of that what you will.

Two things looks to be pretty accurate, price for haircuts and cabs, you can not charge a woman more for the same service, but if she wants hair extensions put in for example they will charge extra for the work, the price for just trimming the hair is not allowed to be different though.

[Liagala]

They should allow the women to work longer hours, that way they can earn as much as the men.

Horrible idea. When would the laundry get done?

Slightly more serious response, to the thread in general: I go back and forth on this sort of thing. On one hand, I really see no problem with little girls posing with toy guns, and boys with barbies, despite the fact that it triggers my "weird" sensors and I have to consciously tell the gaydar to shut up. Yeah, they'll get shit from the kids at school if they're doing the wrong gender's thing, but a generation or two ago kids were getting shit for being black, and that has faded as society caught up. This will too. Offering discounted cab fare to women just because they're women is pretty shitty to the men who are trying to get home late at night. That sort of thing has always bothered me - I don't need to be treated differently just because I have breasts. I'm perfectly capable of doing things just as well as the men can (and paying the same price), thankyouverymuch. On the other hand, the government mandating that sort of thing is utterly ridiculous. Maybe things work differently in Sweden, but in the US I can think of FAR better things I'd like my government to be dealing with. I'm also irritated by the idea that it's a terrible tragedy for someone to get their feelings hurt, and that the big, mean world needs to stop right this instant! Baby people too much and they never learn (or forget) how to deal with adversity... but this is turning into a rant. I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

[Tomatketchup]

Maybe things work differently in Sweden, but in the US I can think of FAR better things I'd like my government to be dealing with.

The Swedish government has nothing to do with it, these are private organizations and municipalities doing this stuff.

[Liagala]

The Swedish government has nothing to do with it, these are private organizations and municipalities doing this stuff.

I got the impression that they were doing it because they were legally required to. The second paragraph of the OP starts with, "Sweden's anti-discrimination laws are as bizarre as they are magical." Did I miss something, or did the author of the article just choose a poor way to express his point? The whole paragraph seems to refer to national laws.