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Make it gender neutral?: Conflict

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RavenWilder Raven Wilder Since: Apr, 2009
Raven Wilder
#1: Apr 4th 2011 at 4:08:01 AM

On the Conflict page, all types of conflict are listed in the "Man vs." format (Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Society, Man vs. Machine, and so on). That is the way the forms of conflict were originally articulated, and the page makes reference to at least one said articulator, but wouldn't it be better to change "Man" to "Person"? The way it's written now seems to preclude the possibility of a non-male protagonist.

"It takes an idiot to do cool things, that's why it's cool" - Haruhara Haruko
Shale Mighty pirate! from Int'l House of Mojo Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
Mighty pirate!
#2: Apr 4th 2011 at 5:25:00 AM

It's man as in mankind, not man as in adult male.

DoktorvonEurotrash Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk Since: Jan, 2001
Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk
#3: Apr 4th 2011 at 5:53:37 AM

Yeah, the way it's written shows pretty clearly that it's "man" as in "human". I seriously hope no-one read that and thought "so women can't ever be the protagonists?".

It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird
RavenWilder Raven Wilder Since: Apr, 2009
Raven Wilder
#4: Apr 4th 2011 at 11:08:59 AM

Then why is "Man and Woman" listed as a form of conflict?

"It takes an idiot to do cool things, that's why it's cool" - Haruhara Haruko
DoktorvonEurotrash Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk Since: Jan, 2001
Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk
#5: Apr 4th 2011 at 12:02:00 PM

OK, that is a problem.

It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird
Madrugada Zzzzzzzzzz Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: In season
Zzzzzzzzzz
#6: Apr 4th 2011 at 12:10:20 PM

Change that to "Male vs Female".

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
BigT grimAuxiliatrix Since: Jan, 2001
grimAuxiliatrix
#7: Apr 5th 2011 at 2:32:42 AM

[up] I believe Man vs. Woman used to be used in literary criticism, but Male vs. Female seems to be the current term.

Everyone Has An Important Job To Do
RavenWilder Raven Wilder Since: Apr, 2009
Raven Wilder
#8: Apr 5th 2011 at 4:30:26 AM

If we're not going to use the phrasing that Quiller-Coach guy did, then can we go ahead and change the other examples from "Man" to "Person"?

"It takes an idiot to do cool things, that's why it's cool" - Haruhara Haruko
Grakor456 Since: Feb, 2010
#9: Apr 5th 2011 at 4:34:41 AM

I don't think that would be a good idea. "Man", meaning "mankind", can essentially be plural or referring to conflict on a larger scale. Person is always singular, and so it changes the meaning a bit.

SakurazakiSetsuna Together Forever... Since: Jun, 2010
Together Forever...
#10: Apr 5th 2011 at 5:13:10 AM

Yeah, lets just stick with "man".

Its an unfortunate quirk of the English Language that we just have to live with. Like our lack of good gender neutral pronouns.

TheNumber Since: May, 2009
#11: Jun 9th 2011 at 5:36:30 AM

This discussion looks like it ended two months ago with consensus that it should remain 'man' - save for the male vs female part. Yet, looking at the trope now, it is written with 'person'. I'm just going to change that back to man (though if the opposite consensus was reached elsewhere (?) and I am doing wrong, fix it).

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