"chicks"

Okay, in view of discussions elsewhere re gender-specific rpg forums, I'm trying to decide if a particular attitude of mine is (a) personal, (b) British, (c) general, or (d) whatever.

Leaving aside for the moment the question of whether gender-separate forums is a good thing (I'm not entirely convinced it is, but quite possibly there are female rpers out there who would find it useful or prefer it, so by all means let them exist) . . .

. . . it's the word "chick".

One of the forums has even been dubbed "Chick Chat" by the (female) organiser.

Now this may be purely a personal thing on my part, but I do not like the word "chick" used to describe women. (And yes, I know about the terms "chick lit" and "chick films". One question. Were these terms coined by men or by women?) It's derogatory. It was coined as such. I don't want to call myself that, and I don't have any urge to go looking in a place that calls itself that.

Tell me -- I admit I'm English, so I may be biased here, but does this word have a lighter meaning in America? Is it somehow complimentary or friendly, rather than being something used by men in general to describe the half of the population which is different from them and, you know, weird?

Personally, I think I'll stay with the general rpg forums. Until we make a change in society as a whole, I don't think we're going to make much of a change among (predominantly male) roleplayers.

And no, I don't know how to do either, but I think it will involve a recognition that we are not "men" and "women" at opposite ends of reality. We are "people". Or some better word. Because building on a foundation that starts with exclusivity is only going to make things more divided.

"chick" redux

Interesting. I've just been conducting a mini-survey here at work of half a dozen people who sit relatively close to me.

General comments:

a) "It depends on who uses it" -- girls asked would accept it from another girl, or from a boyfriend, possibly but probably not generally from a random man, and definitely not from a random building site. Men asked would probably not use it in general, but saw nothing specific against it.

b) "No idea where it comes from" -- two of my six surveyees guessed it might be from "bird".

c) "Nothing against it in general".

d) "Chick Chat sounds awfully girly" -- in the giggly-girl sense.

So there you go. It was mostly me being prejudiced in general. ;)

Torchwood, or Captain Jack Is Back

Just to spread the good word. Colour me . . . interested.

http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article320110.ece

( The BBC has commissioned the Doctor Who scriptwriter Russell T Davies to make an adult post-watershed spin-off of its most famous sci-fi show. The new programme will be called Torchwood (an anagram of Doctor Who) and will follow a crack team investigating alien activities and crime in modern-day Britain. It will feature in its starring role John Barrowman, who played Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and who will play the same character in Torchwood. )

(Though really, didn't Doctor Who already sort of do this as UNIT? :))