Feminism in other cultures

Factual Questions
1

Do feminists in languages with masculine and feminine genders get bent out of shape about when the masculine case is used? For example, in Spanish, a group of girls is “ellas,” and a group of guys is “ellos,” but a group of 10 girls and one guy is “ellos,” the masculine form. Do feminists ever call for a reform, making it something like “elles” or some other new word? Or, in most other European, some nouns are “der” or “il” or what have you, the masculine. Does that bother foreign feminists?

2

Stardust [my girlfriend] speaks German and has visited the country. She tells me that apparently usage of the word fraulein - which doesn’t really mean “Miss,” as we commonly translate it, but really means something more akin to “Little Missy” - is fast on the decline because it’s now considered sexist.

3

I guess depends on which feminists you are talking about. As far as Mexican “mainstream” feminists, no, there is no call reform as far as language goes. Usually what is prefered as follows among feminist here:

  1. When “trabajadores” (workers), use “los y las” rather than just “los”.

or

  1. “Ellos” (they - male) and “Ellas” (they - female), use “Ell@s”. This is common in internet mexican activists.

or

  1. Make it a female noun for what was not a female noun. For example “presidente” (president) male - female “Presidenta”.

or

  1. As in your example, if there is only one male and, let’s say, 10 females, then use “ellas”, though this is very rare, and only when you find yourself amongst hardcore feministas.

xicanoreX

4

I listened to a radio interview with Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin a little while ago, and she mentioned how she basically had to create a word for “girlhood” as there was none (but there is a word for “boyhood”). But I have never heard a French person argue for the whole "one man in the room changes “elles” to “ils,” though I remember having a problem with it in school.
As for English, I try to say “humankind” and all that because, really, how hard is it to add an extra syllable? And it’s silly to think that “man” is the default word that includes all, making “woman” the deviant.

5

This is common among ordinary people in Spain now. I find it fascinating how computers are influencing languages in such a fashion and creating new forms of expression. Of course, there’s no way to pronounce the “@” yet…

UnuMondo