I think the best fix here is “Women will still be alluring, men will still be [insert-adjective-here], food will still …” etc.
Therein lies the problem. I was aware of the gender bias when I wrote the example. But “alluring” does not seem like an appropriate adjective to describe men. I could be wrong, but I’m under the impression that the quality in a man that elicits the analagous experience that an alluring woman elicits is best described by another adjective, and I frankly have no idea what it is.
I chose the original phrasing because it was the simplest, clearest, and most elegant way I could think of to express that point. Of course, since people seem to take special notice of it, it clearly wasn’t worthwhile in any practical sense, so I’ve edited it to be more inclusive, though I think it flows slightly worse as a result.
I am curious as to whether drawing attention to the author’s gender is purely undesirable, or only undesirable where that gender already makes up a substantial majority of the readership/authorship.
I am curious as to whether drawing attention to the author’s gender is purely undesirable, or only undesirable where that gender already makes up a substantial majority of the readership/authorship.
But you weren’t speaking in terms of the author’s gender. The preceeding sentence ends with “(...) no matter what you say or think about them.”, creating a second-person context, hence the implication of projecting the author’s gender onto the audience.
If you had phrased the following sentence in first person, or as an acknowledged-to-be-male third person, it likely would have bothered people less.
Therein lies the problem. I was aware of the gender bias when I wrote the example. But “alluring” does not seem like an appropriate adjective to describe men. I could be wrong, but I’m under the impression that the quality in a man that elicits the analagous experience that an alluring woman elicits is best described by another adjective, and I frankly have no idea what it is.
I chose the original phrasing because it was the simplest, clearest, and most elegant way I could think of to express that point. Of course, since people seem to take special notice of it, it clearly wasn’t worthwhile in any practical sense, so I’ve edited it to be more inclusive, though I think it flows slightly worse as a result.
I am curious as to whether drawing attention to the author’s gender is purely undesirable, or only undesirable where that gender already makes up a substantial majority of the readership/authorship.
But you weren’t speaking in terms of the author’s gender. The preceeding sentence ends with “(...) no matter what you say or think about them.”, creating a second-person context, hence the implication of projecting the author’s gender onto the audience.
If you had phrased the following sentence in first person, or as an acknowledged-to-be-male third person, it likely would have bothered people less.