The woman at my local Dunkin’ Donuts calls me honey every day as she hands me my coffee. Should I be offended?
The Washington Examiner reports:
College editorial board takes feminism to new heights condemning pet names ‘honey’ and ‘hon’While many individuals, especially those who grew up in the American South, have historically used the words “hon” or “honey” as a polite term of endearment in a warm and welcoming atmosphere, students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are taking issue with the practice.According to a recent editorial in the Daily Tar Heel, UNC’s official student school newspaper, calling someone “honey” makes the individual who is being addressed “feel inferior from the implied imbalance of power, especially if she is a woman.”The editorial, written by the student paper’s editorial board, also claims “such behavior should not be accepted, as it promotes the automatic dismissal of someone’s worth.” According to the editorial board, “Using this type of sexist language in the simplest of situations, such as a party, is still just as damaging as in the workplace or the classroom.”On the whole, the argument is patently absurd, especially coming from a school in North Carolina. Anyone, male or female, who has walked into a small town diner or restaurant in the American South, has likely been greeted with a phrase along the lines of “I’ll be with you in a moment, hon,” or a “May I start you off with some coffee, sweetie?” on at least one occasion.
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