This is from an actual Slack "fight" in a company chat. A asked: "For a proposal to a large (...) company in the US they have asked us the following Q:"Is your company a certified diverse supplier? i.e. Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE), Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and/or Transgender Owned Business Enterprise (LGBTBE), Small Disadvantaged Business (DBE), Small Business Enterprise (SBE), Veteran-Owned Business (VBE), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (DVBE), or HUBZone Business." B was trying to be helpful and said: "We have females in our cap table (direct owners of the company) and we have females on the ELT." Then C jumps down his throat: "Females? can't you say 'women'? are we sexing dogs here? sorry for the change of subject, but this is totally off here. Since the word 'female' is trans-exclusionary, you might want to use 'women' instead. I suggest you read a bit more on the difference between biological sex and gender." B responds: "I'm going to keep using the English language the way I have been for 40 years." C and a few others report B to HR and Compliance. --------- Question: I have never even heard of the word "female" being problematic. What should the CEO of this company be doing? (see poll - I mistyped "word" there)
I always feel a little odd calling girls/women females in a casual setting because it does feel like I’m referring to them as some other species. Then again if you’re responding to a formal email, “female” seems acceptable to me. Same as if you were conducting a study on “males aged 45 and over with heart disease”, etc.
This is stupid. There are actual discriminatory things that happen and BS like this just minimizes legitimate events of discrimination. Yes, if we are going to be really particular using "females" is trans-exclusionary. But not everyone knows that, and people need to be understanding of others that don't, not condemn them into oblivion. I want to be inclusive and welcoming of people, but this whole "inclusive language policing" just comes off as arrogant, elitist BS. "B" may have made a mistake, but what do you expect when you condescendingly dismiss them for their unintentional miscue by publicly belittling them? Also, the righteous indignation that some of these privileged people have, like they're fighting for civil rights or something actually important, is laughable. It's a company group chat. People make mistakes. Get over yourself.
Female hasn't been a problem I wasn't aware that folks that transitioned to women weren't female. I thought that it could apply to biological and trans gender.
Weird to use the word female - context is critical here. Is B being intentional in his use of female because of transgenderism and he is making a point to say female instead of women? Just from this exchange you can't determine much.
There are no trans people on that company's leadership team or among the shareholders. So he was not excluding anyone.
It is bizarre. If I'm the CEO I pull B & C into a room and yell at them both. Like geez, you are both senior leaders at a company and you can't figure out how to communicate respectfully to one another?
I wonder why he uses the word female but it doesnt seem offensive. Additionally as a description it is grammatically correct to say "female ownership" as opposed to "woman ownership".
In this context isn’t “females” more precise than “women”? If you’re talking about diversity and measuring where the company stands on it, isn’t it better to use more precise language? Or maybe B should have called them “cisgender women” to appease C.
Sometimes I entertain myself by thinking about a man living in the 90s accidentally walking through a time portal that transports him to modern day, and being like “where the **** am I?” This is one of those times.
Yeah i think female is more appropriate because it can serve as a biological definition. Trans folks might get into a knot (because...) but the chromosomes say one thing even if they can holistically say something else. sjw loves redefining cultural paradigms while getting in people for relying on cultural paradigms
False choice, as the employee's probably not getting fired or anything even close to that. The third option is to imagine for a half second what it's like being the only of your demographic in an office, department or team, and adjust your vocabulary and suppress your indignation like they have to, every single day of their working life.
Compelled speech is not free speech. Language policing for identity politics is about asserting power. No one was actually offended by that word. I don't think the world should change its lexicon because pushing identity politics has become an obsession for a small group of people. The grown up world has bigger problems to deal with. Also not sure what you mean supress indignation... seems like everyone is free to be themselves. Except the man speaking who wants to use the word female.
Wasn't formal enough. Should have gone with safer language like "We have humans with two X chromosomes in our cap table (direct owners of the company) and we have humans with two X chromosomes on the ELT." It's 2020, gotta be careful these days.
