Justin Trudeau Thinks It Should Be ‘Peoplekind’ not ‘Mankind’ – Do You Agree?

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is known for being young, good-looking and progressive. There are those who love everything about him and what he says, many have their reservations. A recent public utterance of his triggered similarly mixed responses; the controversy is about the use of the word ‘man’ in mankind which raises all sorts of thorny questions about some ingrained social constructs. 

Mankind or peoplekind

When posed a question about the future of mankind, Trudeau responded by saying “We like to say peoplekind, not necessarily mankind, because it’s more inclusive.” Some thought this was admirable because it showed a progressive, gender-neutral attitude. However many were critical about Trudeau being overly PC (politically correct) and about what they perceived as an instance of mansplaining

Some commentators also thought that this was an unnecessary invention; in the term humankind, there already exists an acceptable and fairly widely used gender-neutral term. Trudeau then backtracked saying that this was just a joke and that it wasn’t a very good one. Fair enough. This is of a piece with how progressive and charming Trudeau usually comes across as. 

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