In http://www.caribbeanchoice.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=75531&PN=1 - this post , scrolljoe said:

As far as a Webmaster/Webmistress, its just one of those words that actually is genderless like the word Actor.  Yes, there is the word Actress, but the word Actor can actually mean either a man or a woman.  A woman can be a master too in this day and age.  I've seen some people use Web Mistress, but never in a professional sense.  It's kinda like saying "people hole cover" instead of "man hold cover."  It just sounds silly to do.  So I don't think there is a gender problem with the word, since women are fully capable of being a master at whatever they set their minds to.

Explanation well taken. If Alferd Hitchcock were alive he'd probably make a movie : The Feminists is coming. Recently heard of a diplomat being pulled up in the press for saying Madam Chairman. Oh! do we all have our little sensitivities.

Thanks for these little Online Tutorials.

No problem.  I'm glad you like the little tutorials.

And back to the word Master vs. Mistress, I personally think that Master should apply to both genders, since using Master vs. Mistress implies that there is a difference in genders in the area of web development when there is not.

But people are often sensitive and make broad assumptions based on the littlest things sometimes.

In this day and age should we not lift our voices against the culture of domination on either side of the gender divide ? Should the ultra feminists be allowed to get their merry way ? Do we run the risk of being branded Male Chauvinist Pigs ?

Well, as a people, we should.  But often what happens is that some people who demand to be equal usually mean they want to be more equal than others.  There are also people who actually believe in equality, but its often hard to tell which one wants equality and which one wants their group to be more equal than others in the name of equality.  A lot of times people hide their real agenda behind a good cause, which often taints the good cause in many people's minds.

Plus, you have to consider the pendulum effect.  In many cultures, man has dominated for so long that once feminism takes root, the ultra feminists try to swing the pendulum to the opposite extreme.  Actually, what is healthy and natural is for there to be a balance between the two.  But the balance usually comes naturally in time in a free society.

A good example of this is the U.S.  When feminism first took root, the pendulum swung the opposite way where women started to dominate the men in certain ways (or attempted to).  It was a knee-jerk reaction to being dominated, to dominate instead.  Now, years later, things are starting to balance out with men and women becoming truly equal, not just in retoric.  There still is a long way to go, but now people are starting to truly strive for true equality.

Also, most people don't know how to cooperate at a level they could because they have never been in an environment that does that consistently.  Most of us grew up in environments where one gender dominated over another, one race dominated over other, one region dominated over another, one religion dominated all others, etc.  Most people are not used to and have very few examples for living in cooperation and partnership.  Most people's response to being dominated is to attempt to dominate back.  But that reaction does not end domination, it just shifts who is doing it.  The solution to the problem is to not dominate at all and to relate to people or groups in an entirely new way.  This takes time.

Good point Scotty...but address your mind to this factor.: As a sector of society you have for eons in time been dominated and have become accustomed to this form of domination. All of a sudden there are changes...radical changes...no more domination...you're literally free. What happens now ?

History has shown that when domination abruptly stops the people revolt.quite a phenomenon. I call to mind a land mark study of same in Canada during the 1970s and is documented in a a book called "Skaking it Rough ." There is also a study done by Eric Hoffer in a book called : The Ordeal of Change in which he pointed out that the Bolshevic revolution occured after the Tsars made tremendous reforms. ..then the people revolted. Back in 79 after Shaw Pahlavi had literally stripped himself of the stanglehold he and his father before him had on Iran..the people revolted and in came Ayatollah Khomeini from his French exile. The Theory assumes that a dominated people or individual cannot be suddenly freed from domination....they simply cannot come to terms with the change and literally revolt to return to the former state.

Maybe.. ..just maybe.....Fidel Castro is a student of history !
 

People tend to lives lives that they feel they deserve.  That is just as true on a societal level as a personal one.

If you think you are not loveable, you will not feel loved.  If you think you can't handle the freedom (or society can't) then you will long for the control and certainty of repression.  If you think you do not deserve to be wealthy, then you will not be, and if you do get lots of money, you will waste it until you are back to a level you think you should be.

Keep in mind, most of this is subconcious, but it is how our lives work.

Abrupt changes usually cause a pendulum effect.  They start with no freedom, and then the pressure starts coming off and they swing to the opposite extreme, which is freedom without personal responsibility.  Then people see there is too much freedom (or really not enough personal responsibility) and then they swing the pendulum back to be more controlling.

In a free society where people have a say in the laws and rules they live by, I think that after many generations it will start to even out.  The only time it won't eventually balance out is when a small group controls & enforces the laws and rules.

Take a look at the U.S.  In the 70's it was hippies, love & drugs.  Then it became tough love and "Just Say No."  And soon it will start to swing back the other way.

Sounds kinky.

Hello everybody!

I should give you a lesson. My language Slovak has unimaginably more words of gender differents than English. Imagine that your wife has your surname BUT with suffix "-ova". You may know it from Russia - for example tennis player Anna Kurnikova. His father's surname is Kurnik. If you say Mr. and Mrs. Jones, we say Jones and Jonesova.

EVERY word in Slovak has male and female form. Nouns, adjectives, even verbs...

I know one artist, she says that she doesn't want to be "woman" she wants to be a "man" (BUT in meaning person) and in Slovak the word man (person) is in male gender, so she speaks about herself in male gender. She has the surname like a man (guy). It's a bit absurd and comic but I understand her... him  

I call myself "webmaster" but general editor (with female suffix). I understand the word webmaster like terminus technicus...

That's one thing that English has that many other languages don't have: words without a gender.  He, she and it.  We have it, and other languages don't.

I didn't mean that to sound silly, but that is too funny to erase.

Thanks Rogerka for that little linguistic tutorial..never had a feel for languages..maybe that part of the brain has not yet kicked in. Always experimenting with words will I be right in describing MR and Mrs Scott M. Stolz as S.M Stolz and Stolzova ? By the way..you're invited to their Caribbean themed Wedding......reception Ocho Rios...Jamaica....all expenses paid. Doan worry 'bout a thing....compliments of Caribbean Choice.

Yes, you say Mrs Stolzova

Btw. we have "it" too, we use it for words like baby, child... but a car or sun is "it" in Slovak too - I just talked about theme "he/she"

Scottie, you have to use an eek smilie very often by reading us

I wait if you kick us

That's my favorite smilie.

Just be glad I haven't found a kicking smilie yet!

Here is another perspective.

Adam had in him the whole human race, both male and female. In Genesis 1 vs 26 God said, Let us make mankind in our own image , after our likeness, and let them have dominion or complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everthing that creeps upon the earth.So God created man in his own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him: male and female. He created them.  So the instinct to dominate is innate to us, even though the word did not say dominate each other.