Breaking Down Why White People Should Never Use the Word

First, I know this corollary is not enough, but men should probably not presume they can call a woman a “girl.” Women may freely and affectionately say it to each other (some gay men who have equity say “girl” with no or minor offense). When a man calls mature women a “girl,” it is a revelation; it’s a revelation of their insecurity and need to assert dominance.

For way too long, men have tried to feel big by making women inferior and immature. Everyone recognizes how self-serving it is. These men say it with a recklessness that denies their children, especially daughters, the kind of esteem a mother deserves. When white women buy into the misogyny, they are afraid or simply lack courage. White people use the “n” word while claiming that they love Black folks in the way that men say they love women they call “girls,” which opens the door to more violence. A man who calls women “girls” is self-providing a pretext to hit women and possibly rape them while claiming they love women.

When you use the word against Black people and other people of color, you set the stage for police shootings, false arrests and unlawful detention, and imprisonment because their bodies are of less or no value.