Daasgrrl is right. For many grown females being referred to as a girl not a woman can be a little demeaning and offensive. It’s not just a matter of pc. I picture the fat white male partners in a firm sitting around smoking cigars, slapping the female associate on the butt and saying, “be a good girl and get us some coffee.” Even in more benign circumstances, except with a close friend or lover, the term seems not right. It puts the female in a subordinate position, because girl can mean a child whereas man cannot. It can be a subtle, even subconcious means for fat white men to maintain their power (not referring to you Omni 
). Admittedly, the word girl can be perfectly appropriate, but it can also be like calling a black man boy.
MT,
You are putting out a fire will gasoline; expressing the need for sensitivity regarding use of the word “girl” but “hulk smashing” us fat white males. What is wrong with being fat? What does one’s weight have to do with the use of “girl”? 
I was going to let your avatar rub my belly but i’m not so sure anymore.
Well, to just whom are you referring… …
Yikes, I can’t stop watching MT’s avatar. That girl is over cute that it’s sickening but still… get on over here girl.
girl / woman. I hate being called a boy, hate it with a passion. I look pretty young for my age and I’m still built like a high school kid. That makes me hate the term boy even more.
I honestly cannot believe anyone would seriously take umbrage at being called a girl. I would think that if you were in your 30s or 40s and someone refered to you as a girl, you’d be flattered.
Well put, Irongirl
I think the deal there is (of me anyway) is that many of the Western women folk in Taipei are not particularly good looking (the same is probably true of the Western men here, but there are more of them).
Moreover, when I see a nice looking woman, I am either afraid to approach her (since I figure that she gets hit on about 23 times a day), or if I do, they think I am hitting up on them (which I am) and give me the brush off.
When was the last time you called a guy a “fox”?
I dont know if my post is relevant to the topic being discussed, but the original reason for the start of this thread is because someone got mad at Jacana calling herself a “girl”. You guys probably know but the reason she calls herself a girl is because she is Taiwanese. There is really only one word to describe female sex in chinese, and that is “nu sen”, which translates to “girl” in English. There isnt really a word for “woman” in Chinese. So when she translates her language (chinese) to our language (English), there probably will be some cultural and custom differences in word usage. Jacana probably thinks she is a woman, but the word that comes out when she types is “girl” If you all of you know of this then forgive me for my long and rambing post.
[quote=“Jive Turkey”] Perhaps other readers did find my request offensive, but you are the only one who has openly shown that you take offense. Nonetheless, I apologize to you if you felt it was too harsh. I also apologize for falsely accusing you of saying
“My girl” sounds sweet. “My woman” sounds neanderthal.
Context is all. When it’s in the context of discussing boyfriends and girlfriends, the terms “girl” and “boy” are just fine. I don’t care if my girl calls me her boy.
In other contexts, it’s inappropriate. You don’t refer to your co-workers as girls, or in any other professional situation.
Now, what were we discussing? High-powered business contracts or dating? Use the breezily informal ‘girl’ in one case, the more accurate/polite ‘woman’ in the other case. Kind of a ‘tu’/‘vous’ thing, in a way.
Since I seem to be partly responsible here for my posting my opinion, I would like to have the chance to clarify and conclude my position as this debate is hopefully now on it’s last legs.
Omni, as a woman myself (as stated in my previous post) I felt that I was in a position to comment on my opinion on women being referred to as girls. I find it rather curious that a man would have so much to say on the merits of calling women girls in such an acerbic manner.
I have re-read my post and nowhere do I see how I was (to use your word) foisting it on anyone.
I was posting an opinion to offer an opinion from a woman’s point of view.
So - I could understand your often scathing replies if this topic read “Man” vs “Boy” since for me to post to that would be the equivalent of me speaking from where the sun don’t shine, but since I am a woman, well, I’m sure you get my drift.
You are welcome to call me a woman, just not, if you please, a
girl.
I agree to disagree.
Peace and love to you Omni.
mod lang wrote [quote]You don’t refer to your co-workers as girls, or in any other profession[/quote]Speak for yourself mate. You oviously haven’t spent much time down under. A word of caution for those who plan on holidaying there and think they might be offended by being called a, god help me, girl, I suggest you make alternative travel arrangements.
Also, if you’re writing pop songs, girl is almost always preferable to woman. Imagine if Elvis had put out an album entitled “Women, Women, Women” instead of “Girls, Girls, Girls”.
Agreed, unless its Deep Purple singing “My Woman From Tokyo”. Or the Grateful Dead:
[quote=“Grateful Dead in Til The Morning Comes”]Tell you what I’ll do
I’ll watch out for you
You’re my woman now
Make yourself easy[/quote]
Agree again… my wife of 15 years loves it when I call her “my girl”.
Disagree… it can be inappropriate… but isn’t necessarily.
I greet my secretaries and the other secretaries and even our younger female attorneys every morning (as I have for the past 9 years) with “hi girls”. They love it. But, they’re all Taiwanese.
Back in grad school, I enjoyed purposely annoying the piss out of some of my co-ed classmates by referring to my wife (then still just my fiance) as “my girl”… It made their collective skins crawl.
But the Deadhead girls I knew all loved being referred to as “girls”. Especially when they were wearing daisy chains in their hair.
Eh, erm…querelous smile?
Well, you see, some people just get a thrill out of being “offended”, and so they’re constantly making up new excuses to be offended by old words. Words that no one is offended by now will be offensive 25 years from now.
When I was in lawschool I mentioned my girlfriend during a conversation with a couple of classmates and a WOman interrupted and informed me that I should refer to her as my woman friend unless she is actually a girl. I responded that given the fact that she was a 19 year-old topless dancer, the word girl seemed more appropriate. That silenced her.
Someone correctly pointed out above that taiwanese women don’t get or don’t care about this issue. That’s true not just because they’ve got the word ta to refer to everything, he, she or it; and not just because women have less equality here than in the west; but also because so many women here apparently want to be seen as cute young things unlike western women who want to be seen as accomplished, independent professionals.
Eh, erm…querelous smile?[/quote]
Tremulous, actually. (don’t really know where querulous came from; faulty neuron?)
I remember the CEO of the company I used to work for correcting me once, when I referred to a woman as a “girl.”
I think it depends entirely on context. Perhaps it is best to get to refer to someone by name until you know whether she’d prefer to be called a woman or a girl.
I had a girlfriend once who got pissed at me for referring to women of “datable age” as girls. Goodbye, GIRLfriend! 
smashy smasherton III
[quote=“canucktyuktuk”]I had a girlfriend once who got pissed at me for referring to women of “datable age” as girls. Goodbye, GIRLfriend!
smashy smasherton III[/quote]
I’m sure she was devastated.
[quote=“ironlady”]I don’t think I’d half mind being called a “girl” providing anyone would notice I am one…
White women…the third sex on Taiwan…[/quote]
Black women…the no sex in Taiwan.
