UPDATED: Walt Disney Company facing internal pressure over Florida's "don't say gay" bill

Fortunately the whole "Florida man" vibe isn't really a thing here in the Orlando area.

Yes, Central Florida is not Flori-duh, mostly.

Hey, whatever helps you guys sleep at night. 😉

RCMAC said:

The young father from Tennessee who states he’ll let his kids watch the older shows must not have a problem with racism, sexism, or outdated views.

Well, duh! :)

RCMAC said:

Eliminating gender-specific announcements (I’ve read that actually took place a while back and it’s now finally noticed)...

Can confirm they have been gone for a while now. I was really surprised it wasn't picked up on right away when it happened.

Roy P. Disney, while not having any significant stake in the company, says he's going to match up to $500k in donations to Human Rights Campaign, which along with regional organizations like Equality Florida, will likely have a large part in the legal fight against these silly laws.

And now a copy-cat bill has been introduced in Ohio.

> Eliminating gender-specific announcements

I noticed that too--- for example, a very widespread use of the term "friends" to refer to guests instead of whatever it was they used to use pre-pandemic. I asked the lead CM doing our Savor the Savannah tour when that change happened, assuming that had been a point of training emphasis at some point. She had been a CM for a number of years, dating well before this usage. According to her, it was never explicitly encouraged from above, but came about more organically.

I'm not 100% sure I believe that, because it was so noticeable vs. Feb '20 and was used consistently by CMs in a variety of different roles. But, if it's true then the Kids Are Alright.

The last time I rode Kilimanjaro Safaris the driver said "friends" so many times that if I had taken a shot every time he said it I would have been dead before the crocodile bridge.

I've heard that used in the parks for a long time, before the pandemic. Heck, I hear it a lot in technology circles, and have for a long time.

And I don't know why people make it a big deal. I worked with a person identifying as non-binary years ago, and it suddenly was obvious that referring to the group as "guys" was not ideal. It probably wasn't before even you were working with women.

One of my pet peeves is when someone uses “guys” inappropriately. Once I was out with my mom and the server used it repeatedly until I finally said “Does this lady look like a guy to you?”
As for Disney it’s entirely possible that it happened organically. As employees talk to each other and listen to others do their job it could be that they are happily preferring the new way as a solution to an age old problem. And also to avoid offending or having a conflict with guests.
I’ve always tried to use general terms like “folks” when addressing a group or a couple. I think it sounds friendly as well as correct.

Folks is the one I tend to use, but I suspect it makes me sound old. Or, rather, it probably reflects the fact that I *am* old.

“Folks” has become my go-to as well. And despite what my kids say, I’m not old.

On Survivor last season, Jeff Probst called attention to the phrase he uses, “Come on in guys,” to welcome players to the challenge, and acknowledged that it may be inappropriate and bothersome to some players. He asked the group how it felt, and if I remember correctly, at first no one expressed concern and one or two women said it wasn’t a big deal. Then in the next episode, after Jeff used the same phrase unaltered, one of the male contestants, who I believe was gay, said that it was inappropriate and that Jeff should go for a gender neutral greeting. So now he simply says, “Come on in.” My wife thought it was silly that anyone would be concerned about addressing a mixed gender group with the word “guys.”

So you have the male host bringing the issue up, several females dismissing the concern, a gay man affirming the concern—which leads to the host changing his behavior—and my wife thinking it was all a waste of time.

/shrug emoji

I remember that, and in fact thought of those episodes while reading this thread. My wife and I both felt the same as your wife.

I had no idea “guys” wasn’t generally accepted as neutral. It will be tough because I use it so often but I will try to stop using it. I genuinely had no idea on that one.

Conversely, “folks” was often used to speak specifically about rural people (often as an insult) when I was younger so it is odd hearing that become more acceptable as a universal term.

I try not to use it anymore. When I swap "guys" with "gals" it sounds odd and if I said that to a group of my male friends I would be busting balls.

I don't fully understand the backlash reaction to how others want to be addressed. I don't understand when people eyeroll because someone wants to be addressed with certain pronouns. I don't understand the completely stupid people who get on TV and say "OMG GENDER IS ERASED!!1!" when gender is just more nuanced for others than it is for them.

There's lot of stupid about everything these days. Some people aren't happy unless they're pissed off about something. Indignation about anything gender or identity related is just another part of the playbook.

It shouldn't be surprising that many women often do not object to patriarchal forms, because they've been brought up in the same environment men have, and it's easier for those with power to disclaim than for those without to claim.

There's also some interesting scholarship that suggests that women who have other privileged identities are more likely to reinforce patriarchy, because that helps preserve the *other* dimensions along which they have power.