6 1070 disc sex lang 1023 ongoing discussion epicene think perhaps making headway certain issues kinds new loose ends keep unraveling seems clearly established 18th century grammarians english invent usage since existed english centuries b seems linguistic universal something close peculiarity english however see anyone call misandrist mysandrist name could easily taken woman name although happen man would really bad acceptance common view almost perhaps societies important sense maledominated would inaccurate also believe several centuries us brazilian history white people held black slaves vice versa mean hate white people whole issue sense true men dominated human societies certainly respects subtle one one could certainly argue dominance done us little good see one deny fact however purposes hand germane relevant linguistic fact languages make kind gender sex distinction pronouns verb forms anything else rule use male masculine forms unmarked forms persons either unknown gender constructions may differ language language detail b anthropological fact nearly human societies make social distinctions based sex go beyond reproduction breastfeeding like c anthropological fact male roles activities routinely perceived somehow superior dominant better normative whatever regardless whether really completely different issue boils maintain makes sense whatever discuss origin epicene phenomenon context story english prescriptive grammar context way perceptions sex roles informed structure language institution alexis manaster ramer