Androgyne sues catering business for $518,682

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Janissy
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14 Feb 2014, 1:51 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
[I think the main point however is in this situation the co-workers knew this person identified as gender neutral and did not want to be called she or he...I don't see why it would be so hard to respect that.

It is somewhat hard because English doesn't have any gender neutral pronouns that are singular. When addressing Valeria they could say "Valeria" or "you" (assuming Valeria wears a nametag). But when referring to Valeria, it's is cumbersome and violates the rules of proper spoken English to always say "Valeria" and never her/him or he/she.

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And from the sound of it such as things like co-workers calling them 'little lady' it sounds like a bit more than forgetting and more like intentional harassment.


Calling any co-worker "little lady" isn't appropriate. But is it inappropriate enough to constitute harrassment? The courts will decide.



Sweetleaf
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14 Feb 2014, 2:02 pm

Janissy wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
[I think the main point however is in this situation the co-workers knew this person identified as gender neutral and did not want to be called she or he...I don't see why it would be so hard to respect that.

It is somewhat hard because English doesn't have any gender neutral pronouns that are singular. When addressing Valeria they could say "Valeria" or "you" (assuming Valeria wears a nametag). But when referring to Valeria, it's is cumbersome and violates the rules of proper spoken English to always say "Valeria" and never her/him or he/she.

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And from the sound of it such as things like co-workers calling them 'little lady' it sounds like a bit more than forgetting and more like intentional harassment.


Calling any co-worker "little lady" isn't appropriate. But is it inappropriate enough to constitute harrassment? The courts will decide.


Yes in the end it is up to the court to decide....I can see how it may be a wee bit cumbersome to not refer to someone as him/her...but I also know languages change over time, what is proper in language changes over time as well. I suppose I feel peoples mental wellbeing is more important than language specifics....especially since language changes to fit the society. Also it could be argued the vast majority of english speaking people don't speak it 'properly' in conversation.


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The_Walrus
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14 Feb 2014, 2:41 pm

Gender is not sex. Gender usually correlates with sex, but not always.

Despite that, I feel this is quite frivolous. Some of the terms used were demeaning for any individual, however. A better case would be made based around being called "little lady" and such.



Sweetleaf
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14 Feb 2014, 3:01 pm

The_Walrus wrote:
Gender is not sex. Gender usually correlates with sex, but not always.

Despite that, I feel this is quite frivolous. Some of the terms used were demeaning for any individual, however. A better case would be made based around being called "little lady" and such.


True, I should probably be using the term sex rather than gender for my last post and probably a couple before. Apparently gender is more of a social construct, while sex refers to the physical characteristics related to gender. Still kind of confusing since so many including me thought they referred to the same thing.

And I agree with the last bit, don't think it would be fair to sue someone because they accidently slip up and say he/she in a conversation...but the little lady remark does seem particularly condescending.


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