what do you find offensive

[smc]

Originally Posted by transjen

the term Gurl bugs me mainly because it's like someone saying you are not a girl you're a gurl meaning you are not a real girl just a wanna be hence we'll call you a gurl
Santa's naughty elf Jen

There is an interesting point to be made about Jen's response. Many men and even some TS members here, when they first begin to post, use the term "gurl." (I've even see some self-identified M2Fs use it on the site.) I was one of them, when I first joined the site. I learned from Jen and others that it was unacceptable. It had not occurred to me that one letter in one word could carry so much negative meaning ... but it's easy to see, from Jen's explanation, how it can and does.

That is why we are diligent on this site about ungendering language. To the degree that I play a role in enforcing our rules about ungendering in my capacity as one of the moderators, I do it precisely because I know that Jen (and others) are as much women as any other women who walk the earth.

(Jen, as a hockey fan, is actually in a very special and rare class of women ... my kind of woman! )