Date:    Thu, 5 Mar 1998 15:45:48 -0800
<br>From:    Devon Coles  dcoles[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HORIZON.BC.CA 
<br>Subject: Re: Ms.
<br>
<br>Yikes! Larry has hit the nail on the head and not driven it home. The notion
<br>of "people of irrelevant sex" (a nicely loaded phrase)  is integral to the
<br>initial problem that gave rise to 'ms' and 'chairperson' in the first place.
<br>(Some would argue that the so-called "irrelevant" sex  is and always has
<br>been the marked one, fe-male.)
<br>There's nothing irrelevant about this distinction - it's the basis upon
<br>which divisions of power and the benchmark of the "fully human being" in
<br>modernity are predicated.
<br>Would that we all could see sex markers as "irrelevant."
<br>
<br>
<br> The same problem that extends to e.g. "chairperson" or "spokesperson",
<br> typically now used specifically for women in those roles rather than for
<br> people of irrelevant sex.
<br> 
<br> Larry
<br> 
<br>