“Bro,” “Guys,” “Dude” aren’t ’genderneutral’ terms

By claiming that “sis,” “girl,” “gal,” etc. aren’t ’genderneutral’ terms, while actively claiming “bro,” “guys,” “dude,” etc. are, you’re saying male is the default. Male is treated as the neutral or universal reference point, while female terms are seen as specific or gendered. This perpetuates the idea that the male experience is the baseline, and anything outside of that is the exception.

But here’s the thing: Male isn’t the default. If anything, female is the default—before we are assigned a gender at birth, we all start as female in terms of biological development, aka in the womb. The idea that male is the baseline ignores this fundamental truth. That’s literally a fact. We’ve just been conditioned to view male as the standard, but that doesn’t make it inherently so.

Misogyny is integrated into our language. Language shapes our views, and words hold power because they hold energy. If we want change, we have to start by changing our language first.