Insanity? Batshit Insanity?

[Buff]

How's this for some batshit insanity?

Smith students vote for gender neutral wording

Smith College students earlier this month made a decision some might find mystifying: Although Smith is a women's college, the students voted to change the language of their student constitution so that the pronouns "she" and "her" would be replaced with gender-neutral terms.

The vote applies only to student government documents, and not to official college publications, so none of the college's brochures will excise the female pronouns.

The student government vote is an indication of a deeper issue facing Smith College, and other same-sex institutions, which is that a growing number of students identify themselves as transgender, and say they feel uncomfortable with female pronouns.

"Smith College is a college for women, and within that there is a place for all kinds of women," said Brenda Allen, director of institutional diversity.

In addition to the issue of gender identity, within the transgendered movement there is also the matter of sex-reassignment surgery, formerly known as sex-change operations.

Dean of the College Maureen Mahoney said there is no policy in place at Smith that prevents students from undergoing sex-reassignment surgery while students are at the college. But she admits that the matter raises complex issues that the college has yet to fully deal with.

Last edited by Buff at May 7 2003, 04:29 PM

[Winetalk.com]

Buff, it's OK,
I heard of some company changing their language and restrict some work to "Pregnant People"
to avoid discrimination law suits
;-)))

[Mike AI]

What ashame, as I keep saying we will the the people who destroy this fine nation...

Political Correctness is what will do it.

[Buff]

This is my favorite part:

"I think that some students were concerned that the identity of Smith as a single-sex institution - as a women's college - would be tainted in some way," said Julie Mencher, a Northampton psychotherapist who was recently hired to serve as transgender specialist at the college.

According to Mencher, most of the students she counsels do not see themselves as transsexual - that is, they are not necessarily interested in using medical means to change their bodies so that they appear as the opposite sex. Rather, she said, they are exploring their gender.

"There are a lot of students here who identify as transgender but don't identify as male. They identify in a more gender-ambiguous way," explained Mencher. "They have come to a campus where that's very much supported."