When it comes to sexism in language¹, there are all sorts of examples. On the one hand, you get the male/female differentiation in occupations. Sometimes this is well-established (waiter/waitress, actor/actress), sometimes still accepted but on the way out (stewardess—there are no “stewards” anymore but the right term is now “flight attendent”), and sometimes it just sounds ridiculous (there are no “aviatrices” any more, although to be fair there aren’t really “aviators” either.²) For my part, I try not to use the -ess forms of the words; I don’t see a reason why “waiter” or “actor” shouldn’t…

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