Comments for 0 at http://empowerment4women.com , comment 1 to 2 out of 2 comments http://empowerment4women.com Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:11:29 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://empowerment4women.com/culture/the_feminist_experience/girl/#comment-93 You know, you are right - I never really thought about how I was choosing the male term over the female - I guess I do think waiter seems gender neutral. That 'ess' ending just sounds like someone added lace, and I've never felt very 'lacey'. :) - sarah Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:57:35 +0100 http://empowerment4women.com/culture/the_feminist_experience/girl/#comment-90 Another great article Sarah! I, too, have thought a lot before about the use of gendered profession titles like that. Like actor/actress. Now it seems it's common for all stars to call themselves an "actor". But I have to admit, I find something unsettling about us choosing the male version of the two as the universal standard...am I just misinterpreting it? Is it that "waiter" and "actor" are, linguistically, the gender-neutral versions of the words, and adding "-ess" marks gender? Or is it that we are prone to considering male things neutral things, after living in a patriarchy for an eternity? Not sure... I, too, have experience waiting tables for the last two years, and at the place I work, we are all "servers". I guess I like this because it seems fairly neutral, and has only one form. Albeit, it's a little less glamorous than "waiter"... oh words, they have so much weight sometimes... Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic. - Emilie Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:14:45 +0100