Just looked it up and the entire first page of searches is about how ‘guys’ is masculine and insensitive to women. I disagree. I think the masculinization of the term is like an unneeded extra filter placed over ‘guy’ but the term itself is innocent. Guy Fawkes was a real person. He did something that caused him to be a symbol of the common person. There is nothing gendered about that. It’s the patriarchal culture that then assumed ‘common person’ refers to males. When I think of Guy Fawkes, it is his actions, not what’s in his pants, that is important. So, while there are many needlessly sexist and sexual phrases in English, I do not view ''Guy" as one of them and, instead, view it as a victim of the patriarchy just like you and me. It isn’t an inappropriate phrase to change or remove, it’s one to reclaim for all people; which is exactly in the spirit of the symbol of who Guy Fawkes is.
I’ve never minded being lumped into “you guys” and I’m a trans woman. But there are trans women that do mind, so I’m not gonna argue or anything if they tell me they don’t like that term.
That being said, it does feel weird. Like having a problem with the term “mankind”… Like, I get “man” is a masculine term but nobody means “men” when they say “mankind”, you know?
Once upon a time “man” simply meant “human”, “wer” and “wif” being the gendered (adult) words, “man” underwent semantic shift while “mankind” didn’t. I guess increasing misogyny due to Christianisation is to blame.
i have a problem with ones like that lol. And ones like there being craftsmen but not craftswomen. i often make huge deals about it lol