Unintentional sexism is sexism nonetheless. There’s almost never a good reason to use a different word to describe a woman’s job than the words you’d choose if the position were held by a man.
The most disgusting thing that I saw on this topic was the following tweet:
Epic. Three Lessons from Katie Cotton, Apple's Departing PR Dominatrix http://t.co/FpGCMOhXQM pic.twitter.com/LYOMS5D7jQ
— Seth Weintraub (@llsethj) May 8, 2014
That elicited the following from me:
The terming of Katie Cotton as Apple’s PR “dominatrix” assets that the main power women have in this world comes through sex. Disgusting.
— Geof Morris (@gfmorris) May 8, 2014
I’m not going to deny that sex is powerful, but maybe she was just really fucking good at her job? Don’t use that for a headline.
— Geof Morris (@gfmorris) May 8, 2014
I’m not even sure that this counts as unintentional sexism. It distinctly smells of putting women into a rhetorical box to keep usthem safe from the business environment.