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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 9810824" data-attributes="member: 58172">Because English is mostly a nongendered language, any unnecessarily gendered noun sounds archaic.For example, I was surprised to discover the term "webster" was once the female form of the word "weaver". And when I first heard someone use the term "farmerette", I thought the person was joking. Gendered nouns sound off.The only part of the language that is actually gendered is pronouns, and one can see how awkward these can be.I have heard feminists argue to keep the terms "actress" and "goddess". Their argument was, she wasnt a god who happened to be a woman, but a god that expresses femininity. I get that, but even this runs into the "Smurfette" problem. It depends on culture. The god of the sun might be male or female. The god of the sky might be male or female. The term god is normally referring to gender neutral abstractions. In various traditions of transcendent monotheism, the term God includes male and female aspects simultaneously. A phrase such as "the god of femininity" sounds right. In the contexts that I am in, the term "god" is normally gender neutral.Moreover, to emphasize a term like "goddess" even to refer to aspects of femininity, such as Hera or Aphrodite, often comes with the archaic gender stereotype baggage, about what women should and shouldnt do.English speakers seem to be in the midst of a linguistic shift, in a process of sorting thru all of this awkwardness.Any way, in terms of D&D rules, mechanics and narrative, I strongly prefer ungendered descriptions. A main reason is, the fantasy characters themselves can have personas that are male or female or both or neither. I dont want rules that get in the way.</blockquote>

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