[Callers] Boys and Girls

[Nick Cuccia via Callers]

On 09/27/2016 11:35 PM, Jeremy Child via Callers wrote:
> Thanks Donna.
> How do the dancers know who's dancing boy and who girl?  Sometimes
> they need to, or do the callers avoid any calls requiring this
> knowledge (e.g. boys trade from a wave)?  
> Jeremy
The convention that I've encountered on the handful of occasions that
I've danced with IAGSDC (International Association of Gay Square Dance
Clubs) clubs in California, Oregon, and Nevada, and at the IAGSDC
Convention in San Francisco a couple of years ago, is for the person
dancing that particular role to announce "boy!" or "girl!" when doing a
gender-identified call.  It, and other examples of gay square "fluff",
can be found at:

    <http://www.rosetownramblers.com/Documents/How_To_Fluff.pdf>

But going back to your original question about using non-gendered
language for MWSD...  IAGSDC has an interesting writeup on its use of
"boys" and "girls", including some experiments in terms of using
alternate nomenclature and physical signifiers that have been done over
the years.  It's worth a read, and makes some reference to some of the
experiments in eliminating gender identifiers in the contra, ECD, and
SCD communities.

    <http://www.iagsdchistory.org/historywiki/index.php?title=Gender_Roles>

--Nick