An academic report commissioned by the United States Marines urged Marines to stop calling their drill instructors “sir” and “ma’am” to avoid “misgendering” the instructors.
The 739-page report from the University of Pittsburgh — which was catalyzed by a new congressional mandate —featured PhD biologists Bradley C. Nindl and Mita Lovalekar heading a team of 22 academics telling Marines they should address their instructors by their last names.
“Replace gendered identifiers (e.g., ‘sir,’ ‘ma’am’) in the primary salutation or response to drill instructors with gendered neutral language such as ‘drill instructor,’ ‘senior drill instructor,’ ‘senior,’ ‘DI,’ or ‘SDI,’” the report states. Read more…
