about gender naming/language conventions?

[Sleepyjack]

You know how they sometimes have female and male equilivants of certain job descriptions, are we still meant to be doing that? or has it all become one?

some examples:
actor/actress
steward/stewardess
bachelor/bachlelorette
and so...

also i know bachelorette isn't really meant to be a word and it should be spinster, just that, that's what they were using on a recent reality tv show about an unmarried woman. Needless to say i only watched the 2nd last episode (eh? work that out)

ok, back onto topic now, are we still meant to be dividing the naming conventions or have they become assimilated onto the one word?

eg actor is for both female and male?

Just a little confused when i was thinking about it today?

also this was a gender issue, so i thought sexuality might be the place?

edit:
also, i know that some names might stay the same, for example they wouldn't make bachelor as to mean a woman as well, since they have spinster to describe a female, it's moreso about when the tak on an ette or an ess to the word, in order to make it female?

on a lighthearted note:
'cause, remember when you want to make a guys name into something female, you normally add an "elle", "inni"or soemthing like that to it

[analog]

those secondary gender names were created as a result of political correctness. Unless a name was CREATED to be gender-specific, like actor and actress, I use the original most often.

I fuckin HATE PC bullshit. It drives me insane, and I will not be a party to it.

[lordjeebus]

I think that the naming conventions merge when the females in the group decide to claim their share of the male term. Eg. actresses describing themselves as actors.

In contrast, stewardesses don't call themselves stewards because they haven't claimed that term; they've chosen "flight attendants" as their preferred neutral term.

As a side note, "bachelorette" is a fine word -- not as old as "spinster," but the OED has it going back to the 1930's.

[Sleepyjack]

analog said
Unless a name was CREATED to be gender-specific, like actor and actress

Interesting, cause i normally do think of girls as actors? even though they still hvae those best actress award? ( i think) or has it changed to best female actor?

[ratbastid]

I normally think like this: an actress is a female actor. If you only get one word to describe her and her job, and if it matters to communicate her gender, then it's "actress". But in a sentence where her gender is clear--or in cases where it's irrelevent--I use "actor".

"Who's your favorite actress?" is a legitimate usage. "Liv Tyler is the finest actor of her generation," is also a legitimate usage, though arguable.

That's a for-instance. I use the same rule with "waiter" and other like role terms.

[insidious_machinae]

In the movie Falling Down, the neo-nazi guy in the army surplus store points out to a female police officer that they don't call them "officer-esses" to dignify them as female.

Officer is non-gender specific. We need more words like that.