West Lafayette, In. — A widely-used online grammar reference book at Purdue University is encouraging students to avoid words like “mankind” and “mailman” because they are sexist.
The section in the Purdue University Online Writing Lab section called “Stereotypes and Biased Language was just updated last week to say “avoid using language that is stereotypical or biased in any way,” biased language frequently occurs based on gender, but can also offend groups of people based on sexual orientation, ethnicity, political interest or race. Although MAN in its original sense carried the dual meaning of adult human and adult male, its meaning has come to be so closely identified with an adult male that the generic use of MAN and other words with masculine markers should be avoided,” the guide says.
The guide also established substitutes for “man-made”, “mailman” and congressman. “Man-made should be referred to as synthetic or manufactured, “mailman” should be mail carrier and “congressman” should be congressional representative.
