Letters

In response to the Whisperer column in last week’s issue of GulfWeekly about the use of the word ‘girls’. To be a girl, or not to be a girl, that is the question?

Having trained and worked in a male-dominated profession as an engineer designing military radar - yup Baloo’s mummy was a boffin at one time - I have been called many things since, being of a certain age and coming from the north of England, it was the era of ‘luv’, ‘mi duck’, ‘dear’, ‘darling’ and more - mostly used affectionately and always just part of the local vernacular.

However, since puberty I have never been called a ‘girl’. I was a young lady, young woman and a ‘woman in engineering’ not a ‘girl in engineering’. I was not a chick or a bit of stuff or anything in between. I dealt with many sexist comments and inappropriate actions that today would be considered harassment but then they were just part of my life and I rolled with the punches, so to speak, as one female engineer out of around 600 - the other 599 being male.

The other day I was in the changing room of a gym. I heard a female trainer encouraging her client with energetic shouts of ‘good girl, good girl’ that went on for several minutes - it was not a one-off. 

By the time I emerged into the gym I was convinced there was a child in the room.  Imagine my surprised to see a grown woman, I’d guess around 30, being addressed in this way. I was amazed. And, it really grated with me. 

Now perhaps the client didn’t mind (English was not her first language so maybe she didn’t notice or fully understand the difference between a girl and a woman) but I’d wager a guess that she had never been asked how she would like to be addressed in a professional setting.

In 25 years of gym use across the globe, I have never been asked that fundamental question: Mrs Clarke, how should I address you during training?

That the Raw Candy woman in your article used the phrase as ‘we were those girls that would always change up our dish at any restaurant’ is irrelevant. In my opinion it would be appropriate to say: The businesswomen described themselves as ‘the girls who …’ but not appropriate to take that description and later write about the ‘girls’.

So, as a professional woman, I side with reader Vicky Honar in saying they are businesswomen not business girls and ‘girl power’ went out with the Spice Girls.

Besides do we EVER hear ‘good boy’ (except when I refer to a male dog during training)? Double standards for sure. Political correctness gone too far. Nope.

PS: The funny thing is that my husband, David, can’t understand why I am OK with ‘luv’ and ‘mi duck’ and not ‘girl’ because, in the south of England, he would find those expressions offensive.

Sarah Clarke, Bahrain.

I read last week’s Whisperer column thrice, just to understand what part of the articles highlighted could pan out to be even vaguely offensive. I believe ‘girl power’ is a very well-known and accepted slogan that encourages and celebrates women’s empowerment, independence and confidence.

Saamia Zia, Girl / Woman / Young Woman, student at Brown University, US.

With all the talk of sexism, feminism and the perfidy of women going backwards and forwards during and since the infamous US Senate hearings, I am reminded  of how deeply enshrined sexism is in both our language and our culture.

By ‘sexism’, I am referring to the dictionary definition of that term: ‘the prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex’.

I challenge you to think about how you use language because I was struck once again by how many women, and even the most supportive of men, use language that perpetuates sexist ideas that women are somehow inferior or lesser beings than men.

When someone wants to insult a man, they mostly use terms that imply, in a strongly pejorative sense, that he is like a woman; for example, Senator Lindsey Graham was described as a: ‘drama queen’ and there were images of him dressed up in a woman’s clothing and wearing a wig. (I have seen many similar images of President Trump dressed up to look like a woman too.) If you want to demean a man you call him a girl or say that he is womanish or has female characteristics.

Why not describe Graham as ‘a drama king’? That’s because there is a whole world of difference between ‘a master’ and ‘a mistress.’

The husband of a reigning British queen has to be called the prince consort, husband of the queen regnant, because naming him ‘king’ would imply that he is the ruling monarch. If you REALLY want to insult and damn a man in the eyes of his peers, you do that by calling him one of the colloquial words in use for a woman’s sexual organs.

And, this is just a tiny sample of how disrespect and negative attitudes towards women are reinforced by the language we use every day. I could write a book about it!

Think about it.

Karen Jean Moffat , Hamala.

Harbour Run is one of the series of activities organised by Financial Centre Development Company, the owner of Harbour Towers & Harbour Gate.

The weekly Saturday family run is such a simple concept: turn up every Saturday and walk, jog or run 1.5, 2.5 or 5k, from 7am to 8 am. It does not matter how fast you go, it does not matter what you are wearing. What matters is taking part.

Harbour Run is all about helping our communities maximise their well-being, motivate and inspire people of all abilities achieve their own health and fitness goals. We want as many people as possible to feel part of a real local community brought together by our events.

The idea behind having this weekly run is to build a closer relationship with Tenants and their family members, friends and having runners from outside to be part of our social weekly run.

We ramped up the technology, and so the Harbour Runners registration and card result system was born. Each runner will get a card, swipe it into a reader at a starting point and then swipe it at the finishing point.

Runners may continue their commitment to #Harbourrun by participating every Saturday on a weekly basis. Runners’ results will be available on http://www.bfharbour.com/harbourrun/

Fatima Al Qaidoom,

PR & Marketing Officer, Bahrain Financial Harbour.