Included in "boy"
Today I was listening to a woman teach the song "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy". I started to cry as she was explaining that "Women didn't get noticed in literature when this was written, but whenever they say "boy" they include girls in it." I was surprised to hear that, since the song is obviously about a BOY, and not ever intended to include girls. It's not the same as saying "mankind" includes women, or anything like that.
I was thinking how sad it is that girls so often have to hope they are meant when words like that are used, and also how sad it is that this woman was talking as if girls in the revolutionary period would have had the same activities and opportunities as boys, even if they weren't mentioned in the songs and writings of the day. I don't believe that is true. Something about that just tugged my heart and made me feel sad.
I was thinking how sad it is that girls so often have to hope they are meant when words like that are used, and also how sad it is that this woman was talking as if girls in the revolutionary period would have had the same activities and opportunities as boys, even if they weren't mentioned in the songs and writings of the day. I don't believe that is true. Something about that just tugged my heart and made me feel sad.