Gaaaaar! Of course, boat’s gender is not
This is the captain speaking! Man the lifeboats. Sorry! Person the lifeboats! Women and children first! Sorry, females, LBGTQ+ and little persons first!
Last week, the Scottish Maritime Museum charity in Irvine, Ayrshire, decided to stop calling its ships “her” and “she” and instead describe them as gender-neutral.
It has been targeted twice by vandals who, offended by “she” ships, scratched the words out of signs.
Yet, instead of working with the police in trying to identify and prosecute the culprits, the museum seems to have given a green light to vandalism and the demands of the very few.
Sorry, but bowing down to blackmail, and rushing in to recognise the societal changes taking place in the UK by introducing gender-neutral interpretation for boats and ships does not hold
‘
I have never questioned the subject of gender inequality of a boat
water.
And, along with many other similar charities and institutions, museum bosses stand accused, guilty even, of jumping on a fast-moving, directionless, “politically correct” cruiser.
I have never, nor do I suspect have most people, ever questioned the ridiculous subject of gender inequalities of a boat or ship.
From the Mary Rose to the Endeavour, from the Ark Royal to the Queen Mary, every single boat or ship ever built, floated, rowed, towed, sailed, puffed, steamed, cruised or, indeed, sunk has, since the dawn of time, been referred to as female.
It’s as futile a gesture as changing the word manhole to personhole or demanding that Santa Claus become St Nicola.
Outlawing words and terms such as “mother-to-be”, “manfully” or “fatherly” is ridiculous.
It does nothing to help those who are bullied as a result of their sexuality or gender identity and,