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Economy_Effective t1_ivk7qt8 wrote

I have been working on a book I am writing and have been using various editing software but today my editing program told me to change from freshman to the first year because it was too gender conforming

I had never thought about the word freshman as being gendered but was wondering about your opinions, especially because I want to do the best I can to not upset people if it can be avoided

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snarky-comeback t1_ivm3vdy wrote

It seems reasonable that, in world that is more aware of gender biases, words like "freshman" would be made obsolete. I saw that a couple of institutions like Yale and Penn State made policy decisions to remove such language. I also found a reddit thread where teachers were complaining about the "woke liberal agenda" so there are always going to be those who are resistant to change.

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RideThatBridge t1_ivmlfac wrote

When I started college at a small, fairly liberal college in, ahem, 1986, we were first years/first year students. We were hardly the first class called that. It has been around a very long time.

ETA: I don’t know how common it is yet, so the only thing may be that readers may no understand what exactly it means initially. First year students would be what I would use the first time, then you can short hand it to first years. I wouldn’t use first year, because it’s a plural, as is freshmen.

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