Tough As Ovaries
Ok, does anyone know of a non-awkward sounding, gender neutral, collective term for “the people who work in congress”?

Or am I just supposed to use “congressmen” as a blanket term, and only use congresswomen when the group is exclusively female? 

anyone? 

(@lesserjoke)

Posted 2 months ago
17 notes
Tagged: lesserjoke, gender neutral, congressman, congresswoman, grammar, sexism, sexist, linguistics, .
  1. strawberrypookmoo reblogged this from lesserjoke and added:
    or congress members!
  2. everythingisaokay said: I usually just go for the clunky term “members of congress”
  3. bakethatlinguist reblogged this from lesserjoke and added:
    How about ‘congressional servant.’ It’s gender neutral AND political at the same time.
  4. sofriel reblogged this from lesserjoke and added:
    When I was in APGov and thus such terms came up frequently, “members of Congress” was overwhelmingly the preferred term....
  5. lesserjoke reblogged this from lightspeedsound and added:
    would guess “congresspersons” or “members of Congress,” but I have...admit it’s not
  6. onlyslightly said: I always say congress person.
  7. iamawug said: I would say that, much like the romance languages, it is normal to hear the masculine form of a word when including all genders (ie. congressmen), but that doesn’t necessarily mean you must. Personally, I find “congresspeople” to be bulky =/
  8. mumblingsage said: Congresspeople, congresspersons, ‘members of congress’
  9. deliciouskaek said: I thought people were just using Congress as a collective noun for that. But I guess Congresspersons could work, though it’s awkward. :<
  10. averybigfish said: congressfolk
  11. jae-wan-mi said: Congressperson? My history teacher throws that term around a lot.
  12. askancethebrook said: congresspeople?
  13. delineatingkaj said: …why doesn’t congresspeople work?
  14. lightspeedsound posted this