As long as I'm taking controversial peace and conflict topics on over social media, this one relates to the name of an important conflict role gaining traction over the past few years.

For a while, I used to think the term 'ombudsman' was just a term, and nothing to argue about.

Then, I thought that the fact that the 'man' in it does not indicate the male gender in the Swedish origin of the term was important. It's just a word, right? If it wasn't intended to differentiate, offend or injure in any way, why make a big deal out of it.

And, finally, more recently I've decided that what actually drove all this is, simply, the fact that I'm a guy. I am less intuitively offended by the fact that gendered terms cannot be neutral. And when they are not neutral, they favor me, so I never experience material or emotional injury

I'm over that now, and and have long felt that we need another term for this (and other!) words. There are several suggestions out there, and I currently have no preference.

Gender is never neutral and if gender is 'heard' then gender is a factor. And, for the record, I couldn't care less that suddenly everybody becomes an expert on Swedish etymology. In fact, this is one of those strange arguments where, the better one side defends their position, the sillier they sound. Oh, sorry, did that come off as not neutral?
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Today I read a report describing how things were moving south on this front, rather than advancing. It's annoying. But, at least its a very well written piece of research.
[H/T to Tom Kosakowski for sharing this report on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/ombudsblog]