Man and WoMAN

Genesis 1:27: God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; he made man and woman.

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In researching further into a recent public interview that discussed the issues with using the blanket-term "man" inappropriately, I was eager to inform myself of their logic, as well as Purdue University's rationale behind their heated topic of research because I used Purdue's Online Writing Lab all throughout my college career for my major.

Summary of the public interview: If our collective population "could eliminate the word "man," things would be much better and people would be less offended." The interviewer further said, "woman has the name man in there, and we need to change that, so just call us a person, no need for woman, I would be less offended."

Summary of Purdue University's logic: When referencing the female population, Purdue University says that structuring one's writing and speaking with such words (mailman,woman) have become offensive. The word "mankind" is an alternative offensive word, and Purdue's Online Writing Guide describes that the general use of “man,” as well as its use in professional titles, is no longer considered a formal or professional writing style. Purdue continues to say that, "even the occupational terms once deemed politically correct, such as policeman and policewoman, are also taboo. The replacements for these now “gendered” terms is police officer."

To me, the most shocking quote from Purdue Online Writing Lab was this: “Non-sexist writing is necessary for most audiences; if you write in a sexist manner and alienate much of your audience from your discussion, your writing will be much less effective.”

To ME, stripping words such as mankind, man, woman, etc. makes me a compromiser in my writing (and in general). God created mankind in his own image. I looked up Genesis 1:27 in every translation & not one translation omits the two genders or blankets their existence with the term "person." Some wording is changed from "mankind" to "human beings" for the first part of the verse depending on what translation one is reading from, but each states "man and woman" or "male and female" in the latter half of the verse.

Banning words for the sake of conforming to society's individual offenses will not change who I am or who they are: women. I am not overlooking the principle of this research or what their objective is. I know, through context, our world has separated biological sex from gender. Biological sex: The anatomy of an individuals reproductive system; what one was given at birth. Gender: Personal identification of one's own gender. I am wholly mindful of heterosexual versus homosexual, versus asexual, versus pansexual. For some who may view my projections as insensitive: I choose to love everyone, regardless of one's personal identification, because God is love. I will still love individuals whose views do not correspond with mine. I do and will continue to aim to be kind in my word choice. I will also speak boldly for God & will not compromise Him or His creation in any form.

Even though I learned vital writing skills through Purdue's writing lab, I choose to never alter my future writing in order to cater to somebody else's offense. Luke 17:1 says that God himself says it will be impossible for no offenses to come. The first three words in Proverbs 17:9 are, "overlook an offense." I may be considered a less effective writer to some after today, but in God's and my eyes, my "sexist" writing does not make me "a much less effective writer."

And, I will take no offense.