Member-only story
Mankind, Womankind, Humankind
Which word do you prefer?
Over thirty years ago I stopped using the word, mankind. The word really bothered me. It is an archaic term, made up by men, to describe all humans on the planet. But the word itself only refers to half of the humans on the planet.
The word, womankind, only refers to half of the humans on the planet — the females — so it makes logical sense that mankind only refers to males, right?
But we have been taught in school since we were very young that mankind really also includes females even though there is no indication of that in the structure of the word. AND WE NEVER QUESTIONED THAT!
We are ruled by anything that we do not question! Personally, I try to question EVERYTHING. Why would a male term be used to describe females? Why would we call ourselves something so unbalanced and non-inclusive? Who taught us this and who insists that we do not question what we are taught? Is it the patriarchy that rules the world? Is it the men who wrote the dictionaries and bibles?
Are we really a male species created by a male God in ‘his’ image with females merely being an afterthought so that there is someone to vacuum and clean the kitchen and have babies so that men don’t have to?
