Azz innovations you liked.

[Dr. Poison]

It's similar to how 'actor' has become largely gender-neutral while 'actress' is being slowly phased out and becoming archaic. Language evolves.

Is it really evolving when the male words are the only ones being used? Why haven't any of the female words been turned into gender-neutral words?

[Raiden]

Hate is strong in this thread. Wonder what Diana would think.

[Dr. Hurt]

It's similar to how 'actor' has become largely gender-neutral while 'actress' is being slowly phased out and becoming archaic. Language evolves.

First time i hear about this. So wait, can i say "Anne Hathaway is an actor"? That doesnt sound right.

[Carabas]

First time i hear about this. So wait, can i say "Anne Hathaway is an actor"? That doesnt sound right.

I don't think it sounds quite right either, but I'm starting to get used to it.

Is it really evolving when the male words are the only ones being used? Why haven't any of the female words been turned into gender-neutral words?

Nurse immediately comes to mind.

[SteveGus]

It's similar to how 'actor' has become largely gender-neutral while 'actress' is being slowly phased out and becoming archaic. Language evolves.

Tell that to a Wiccan or some other flavor of neo-paganism. My experience is that people who in this day take goddesses (and gods) seriously generally believe that it is a very different thing to be a goddess than to be a god. (And usually, goddess is better. One of the points of worshipping a goddess is to worship a deity that is specifically feminine.) In other words, people who believe in gods and goddesses would not mix the two, and might be dismayed to hear a goddess referred to by the masculine word.

[Carabas]

Tell that to a Wiccan or some other flavor of neo-paganism. My experience is that people who in this day take goddesses (and gods) seriously generally believe that it is a very different thing to be a goddess than to be a god. (And usually, goddess is better. One of the points of worshipping a goddess is to worship a deity that is specifically feminine.) In other words, people who believe in gods and goddesses would not mix the two, and might be dismayed to hear a goddess referred to by the masculine word.

These are not generally groups that have a great deal of impact on how a language transforms by common usage.

[Mel Dyer]

The stories, over the past twenty-five years that made Diana - ala, Heracles, Perseus, etc - a pawn or victim of the gods, were really stagnating this comic for me. It didn't help that Circe, a pale Joker rip-off with no intelligible motivation for villainy, was at the center of so many of those stories. I like the idea of Wonder Woman being on a peerage with the gods, because, like the Mod Era, it creates the opportunity to make Diana her own woman.

We can thank Azzarello for that.

[Silvanus]

Is it really evolving when the male words are the only ones being used? Why haven't any of the female words been turned into gender-neutral words?

Because the male words have been the default, and many of them don't have specifically male suffixes ("-or" has never been exclusively male across contexts, that I know of) while the female words (like "actress") do have specifically female suffixes.

There are two progressive or feminist things that we can do about a word that is male and also the "default" for mixed groups or unknown gender: stop using the male word as default, or stop using the default word as also specifically male. When it comes to pronouns, we've been stopping the old practice of using "he," "him," etc. as default. But when it comes to words like "actor," there's nothing particularly feminine about its form, so if we start using it consistently about women as well as men, it should become thoroughly gender-neutral except in word histories.

But I think something else could be going on here; it might be that the god roles are gendered irrespective of who is occupying those roles. So even though Diana is female she's occupying a position that the Olympians consider "male." If that's the case, it could become a plot point; maybe the next monarch of the gods (Athena? Hera?) will change that system and name Diana "goddess of war"--or something else, like "goddess of war and peace" or "goddess of justice" (taking Queen Athena's old role) or even "goddess of women" (taking Queen Hera's old role, if Hera is now Heaven). I guess at this point, though, a whole new role like "Justice" or "Woman" would have to wait until Five Years Later, or until that future is changed, since it appears from the solicits that she'll still be god of war in that future.

[Dr. Poison]

I don't think it sounds quite right either, but I'm starting to get used to it.

Nurse immediately comes to mind.

Nurse? I don't recall ever hearing any sort gender specific connotation for nurse like actor/actress.

[Carabas]

Nurse? I don't recall ever hearing any sort gender specific connotation for nurse like actor/actress.

I don't think your experience with the word 'nurse' is universal.
Are there even that many female titles? 'Stewardess' has been pretty much replaced by 'flight attendant'.

[Dr. Poison]

I don't think your experience with the word 'nurse' is universal.
Are there even that many female titles? 'Stewardess' has been pretty much replaced by 'flight attendant'.

I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at with your first sentence but I have been cared for by both female and male nurses.

I'm all for language advancement. I would just like to see the feminine terms receive equal consideration.

[klinton]

Nurse? I don't recall ever hearing any sort gender specific connotation for nurse like actor/actress.

Nurses do come in both genders, but the term certainly does have a female conotation. You'll have a Nurse Barbie doll, but never Nurse Ken.

I'm not sure why. It could be a holdover from a time when women dominated the field? But the term 'nurse' is almost always associated with the female gender, despite being a job filled by either. /shrug