Religion
Related: About this forumHawaiian God, Pele, Is Apparently Angry
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uppityperson
(115,681 posts)MineralMan
(146,338 posts)Thanks! Anyhow, I consider the word "god" to be gender neutral.
uppityperson
(115,681 posts)they are referring to is female?
Igel
(35,374 posts)Is it male privilege to consider a male term like steward to be gender neutral when pointed out that the being they are referring to is female?
Or perhaps "actor"?
"Priest"?
The tendency has been to use the unmarked term as gender neutral except when there's great political hay to be made.
MineralMan
(146,338 posts)The gender usage trend these days is to avoid appending suffixes like -ess to indicate female gender. When referring to omnipotent supernatural entities, I use the word deity, as a rule, but also refer to them as gods sometimes.
The word endings -or and -er mean simply "one who" (verbs). Server, for example.
The word actor is now standard for both sexes. Actress is rarely heard these day from people of that profession. Airline passengers are assisted today by flight attendants.
As a professional writer, I have to be very conscious of such usages.
God is a gender neutral word. It carries no meaning with regard to sex. In the movie, Dogma, for example, Alanis Morisette played God.
Thanks for your interesting question.
uppityperson
(115,681 posts)easily can happen but decided to anyway, hoping you saw who was asking. I've used "actor" for yrs, to have people look at me funny. Same with waiter. I don't know why calling Pele a god struck me as wrong, will have to think on this. Could be from past trips to Hawaii and hearing her portrayed as such.
Matt Damon played Loki in Dogma, and the part of Loki in the play in Thor Ragnorok, which has nothing to do with this but my mind wandering.
I liked Dogma.
Voltaire2
(13,213 posts)of gods are actually male gendered, which is itself another facet of the same problem.
Pope George Ringo II
(1,896 posts)msongs
(67,462 posts)guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Sorry, wrong Pele.