PC as the norm?

I've been reading Robert W. Bly's The Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy that Sells (Henry Holt and Company, 1985) to research marketing for a project. In one of this book's early chapters, it mentions gender neutral statements (as opposed to gender-specific) as selling points and lists "sexist" terms and their "nonsexist" substitutes on page 50:

Sexist Term: Nonsexist Substitute
anchorman: anchor
advertising man: advertising professional
chairman: chairperson
cleaning woman: domestic
Englishmen: the English
fireman: firefighter
foreman: supervisor
a man who: someone who
man the exhibit: run the exhibit
man of letters: writer
mankind: humanity
manpower: personnel, staff
manmade: artifical, manufactured
man-hours: work hours
Mrs., Miss: Ms.
newsman: reporter
postman: mail carrier
policeman: police office
salesman: salesperson
stewardess: flight attendant
self-made man: self-made person
weatherman: meteorologist
workman: worker


Get the idea? I'm amazed to see how the "sexist" terms were once thought of as commonplace, and how the "nonsexist" terms are seemingly normal in today's culture. This book wasn't published too long ago but a lot has changed since then.

I thought back to second grade (1989-90 for those of you counting) and remembered the changes of that year at school: we got a new principal, the Christmas concert became the Holiday Concert, the cafeteria carried skim milk, and we began to address our female teachers as Ms. instead of Miss/Mrs.

Since then, descriptive nouns have replaced those that specify gender, and nearly two generations have grown up with this as a daily practice. Gender-neutral ("nonsexist" not being the preferred verbage of today) terms have found comfortable homes in our dialect. As a blogger/woman of letters, I strongly approve.