College bans word "freshman" - equates it to rape

So a college has now banned the word "freshman" as being sexist and equating to "rape"

Are we even in America anymore?


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You should know lawyers are the ones responsible for PC.

Quote: 1nickelmiracle

You should know lawyers are the ones responsible for PC.

I thought it was liberals

Quote: aceofspades

So a college has now banned the word "freshman" as being sexist and equating to "rape"

To a Lib, perception is everything. GW is now
Climate Change, for instance.

Quote: aceofspades

I thought it was liberals

Semantics as weapons were pioneered and perfected by conservative political operatives long before the PC police of liberal activists got tuned in. There were efforts at equalizing the language by "feminists" who then became "feminazis". "Estate taxes" became "death taxes" in order to protect rich inheritance, "Affordable Care Act" became "Obamacare" to protect insurance profits, a hundred other examples, whether obvious or subtle.

"Freshman" is archaic, dating back to before women attended schools where it was used, but can't be considered gender-neutral. In my college times (late 70's), a lot of times they were referred to as "frosh", in part to avoid that problem. "Co-ed" means co-educational, but generically refers to women attending formerly all-male universities, also archaic since about the 1960's. Sophomore, Junior, Senior, are all gender-neutral; it's past time the first class name was as well. But making a problem out of it seems a bit much.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Semantics as weapons were pioneered and perfected by conservative political operatives long before the PC police of liberal activists got tuned in. There were efforts at equalizing the language by "feminists" who then became "feminazis". "Estate taxes" became "death taxes" in order to protect rich inheritance, "Affordable Care Act" became "Obamacare" to protect insurance profits, a hundred other examples, whether obvious or subtle.

"Freshman" is archaic, dating back to before women attended schools where it was used, but can't be considered gender-neutral. In my college times (late 70's), a lot of times they were referred to as "frosh", in part to avoid that problem. "Co-ed" means co-educational, but generically refers to women attending formerly all-male universities, also archaic since about the 1960's. Sophomore, Junior, Senior, are all gender-neutral; it's past time the first class name was as well. But making a problem out of it seems a bit much.

Hmmmmm - banned words help nobody

Quote: aceofspades

Hmmmmm - banned words help nobody

I agree. I'm not suggesting "freshman" should be banned and wouldn't support any effort to do so. Just supplanted with a better, more descriptive effort.

"Novice", "First-year", something similar might work.

Quote: beachbumbabs

I agree. I'm not suggesting "freshman" should be banned and wouldn't support any effort to do so. Just supplanted with a better, more descriptive effort.

"Novice", "First-year", something similar might work.

I respect your right to have this opinion but do not agree

Political correctness is a defense protection from lawsuits. if someone uses certain words, a case can be made they're racist, sexist etc., and would discriminate. Since they may not be as accused, I say lawyers are responsible for using their traps. Remember Mark Fuhrman(sp.?) used the nword so therefore racist, so therefore framed OJ. With political correctness people all people are forced to use approved words so lawyers can't use innocent phrases against the institutions and paint the employees as discriminatory. It's about money more than feelings.

I move we ban the word "word." That way whenever a word gets banned, we won't even know it. ;)