Ever hear one guy tell another he “throws like a girl” in effort to insult him?
EspnW.com contributor Sarah Spain weighs in on why men (and women!) ought not to use words as insults that are actually intended to identify females (and I wholeheartedly agree with her):
“It’s time to put an end to these lazy, damaging jeers. It’s time to stop spreading the message that being female is inherently wrong or inferior. The use of ‘woman’ or ‘female’ or ‘girl’ as an insult is sexist, plain and simple. … Assigning characteristics like ‘tough’ and ‘strong’ to men and ‘soft’ and ‘weak’ to women is not only lazy, it perpetuates stereotypical gender roles and can be harmful to both boys and girls. Those qualities are personality traits, not gender traits.”
Click here to read what she wrote in full. (And big thanks to reader Andrew for pointing this article out to me in his comment on my post about the book The Purity Myth.)