Is the term "master bedroom" offensive?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Those of you shopping for a house, or who have done so, what do you think of when you hear “master bedroom”? I think of the main bedroom, one in which, in a modern house, I’d expect an ensuite and a walk-in closet and lots of space. In an older house, it would be at least the most spacious bedroom.

Not, however, the impeccably upstanding and rabidly Politically Correct to the Point of Insanity Toronto Real Estate Board. What do they think of when they hear the term? Why of course they think of racism, and of slavery, where naturally “master bedroom” is “the bedroom where the Master sleeps”, and the slaves sleep elsewhere. So, the TREB just announced today that henceforth “master bedroom” is banned from the language as offensive, and “primary bedroom” is the only acceptable term.

I imagine it would be futile to point out to them the various meanings of the word “master” and the obvious one here. Last I checked, there haven’t been “masters” around here in the sense of slave owners for a very long time, if ever. But perhaps dogs might be offended by the term. One could also call it the “chief bedroom”, but of course the TREB would then imagine it to be an offensive reference to either Indian chiefs or fire chiefs.

Maybe others will disagree, but I think this new ruling is really over the top. Yes, language is a powerful force, and its nuances are important, but we need to balance that with the risk of getting just a little bit ridiculous, which then undermines legitimate and genuinely justified efforts at language reform.

This is not something I’m going to go around protesting, but I just wonder what others think.

2

You can use whatever terms you want. I doubt this board has any legal authority over you.

3

Wut?? I’m asking about people’s opinion of the Toronto Real Estate Board edict.

4

It is not offensive to me and it is one of the dumbest complaints I’ve seen. Also it gets a little confusing in terms of bathrooms as Main Bathroom, Master Bathroom & Primary Bathroom.

Master in this case has never meant anything to do with slavery.

This one will probably be counterproductive in the long haul. Providing easy fuel for the anti-PC crowd. I saw the terminology change on listing in the last year. I just went through selling my house, my Mom’s place and buying a house in a weird market. The Primary Bedroom and Primary Bathroom bit is non-productive and shouldn’t be offensive to anyone.

I don’t think we’re going to see wide-spread suppression of the use of master in other areas and I’m surprised this one wasn’t laughed down.

ETA: For what it is worth, I saw Owner’s Suite used on a listing or two, which makes more sense but probably could raise the same misplaced objections.

5

My opinion is that you can ignore their edict if you find it egregious. If enough people ignore their proclamations, then they have no useful power and the problem is solved.

6

No it’s not offensive.

7

“NAR sees no reason that real estate professionals cannot use the term, as there is also no evidence that it has any historical connection to slavery or any other kind of discrimination.” - Vince Malta, President of the National Association of Realtors

8

My thoughts exactly.

9

FYI, The New York Times ran an article (paywall warning) last summer about this question, and some groups, such as the Houston Association of Realtors, are moving away from it. They’re calling it the “primary” bedroom instead.

10

I didn’t realize this had become widespread, BTW. I thought it was something originated by the place that used to be sarcastically referred to as “Toronto the Good”.

11

BTW, yesterday, The New York Times ran another article (again, paywall warning) about how the computing world is moving away from terms like master/slave.

12

No, it made its appearance in NJ last summer also. I can’t recall which large National Realtor, but I thought it was dumb then.

13

On the one hand: It means master of the house, not master of the slaves.

On the other hand: It has been centuries or more since any of my family were slaves. So I’m in no position to judge. If people have had slavery in their family more recently, and they are sensitive to such wording, they have every right to be sensitive about it, and I’ll try to accommodate them.

On the third hand, when I saw the title of this thread, I presumed that the offensiveness of the term “master” was related to sexism: why is the mistress of the house being excluded?? It’s her bedroom too! (I hope no one considers this paragraph homophobic.)

14

I’m glad to see it gone. Primary bedroom/bath work just fine and conveys the needed information. If it represents even the tiniest display of good intent, I welcome it and am saving my energy for all the other work that needs to be done.

15

I’m calling it the mistress bedroom from now on. Try and stop me.

16

I take the point of the OP, but I think this is a bit of a pin prick: in a week, a month, or a year, most people will be using the term “primary bedroom” in the context of real estate, and will either decide it sounds better or – at least – won’t bemoan the passing of yet another “better term sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.”

17

“Primary bedroom” is clear enough, but I disagree about “primary bathroom”: I would assume that that meant the bathroom that gets the most use, which in a dwelling with children probably won’t be the one attached to a bedroom.

18

Moving away?
I remember having this talk with our tech writer in the 90’s.

19

Same here; we recognized a long time ago that it was an offensive construction.

20

Master is not gender specific, that’s why women can master skills, jobs or anything they choose