RE: Question to all Americans: why do you refer to vehicles and ships as "she"?
July 13, 2015 at 1:25 pm
(This post was last modified: July 13, 2015 at 1:27 pm by Anomalocaris.)
For some reason it seems to be fashionable to attribute any tradition involving the feminine pronoun to "objectification" of women. I think it's carried too far.
I think ships were called "she" simply because by long tradition, women were generally not allowed aboard ships, and yet shipboard life were very arduous and perilous until recently, and the life and limb of the sailors depended on the ship faithfully and dutifully performing its role. So sailor psychologically associated the ship at sea with a faithful wife on land, much as what was considered a good wife might make a man's life on land easier and less perilous, so a good ship might make a man's life at sea easier and less perilous.
Even if division of labor, power and reward between men and women were unfair by modern standards, wishing a ship would be faithful and dutiful like what was considered the good woman if not in itself objectification of women.
I think ships were called "she" simply because by long tradition, women were generally not allowed aboard ships, and yet shipboard life were very arduous and perilous until recently, and the life and limb of the sailors depended on the ship faithfully and dutifully performing its role. So sailor psychologically associated the ship at sea with a faithful wife on land, much as what was considered a good wife might make a man's life on land easier and less perilous, so a good ship might make a man's life at sea easier and less perilous.
Even if division of labor, power and reward between men and women were unfair by modern standards, wishing a ship would be faithful and dutiful like what was considered the good woman if not in itself objectification of women.
