| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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5. Gender: Sexist Language and Assumptions
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| § 5. -ess |
| Many people feel that sexist connotations may be implicit in the use of the suffix -ess to indicate a female, as found in words like sculptress, waitress, stewardess, and actress. According to this view, the sexism lies in the nonparallel use of terms to designate men or women: the ending for men, -er or -or, seems neutral or unmarked in a word like sculptor, and sculptress by comparison seems to be marked for gender, suggesting that a man in that role is what is expected and a woman is somehow unexpected or different. | 1 |
| While it is true that the specific terms actress and waitress are in wide use and are largely acceptable, in general the use of such pairs of terms as actor/actress, steward/stewardess, and waiter/waitress to indicate gender is sometimes considered offensive and is often unnecessary. For occupational titles, the use of -ess is usually considered inappropriate and has been almost completely replaced by newly formed gender-neutral compounds or by the -er/-or forms. When you board an airplane, for example, you are now assisted by a flight attendant instead of steward or stewardess. British peerage titles formed with -ess, such as duchess and countess, however, are technically correct and unlikely to offend. | 2 |
| The suffix has a long history dating to the Middle Ages. But several similar suffixes, such as -ette, as in suffragette, and -trix, as in aviatrix, also have long histories and have proved no match for the neutral -er/-or ending. So it appears likely that -ess will meet the same fate. | 3 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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