Stop being so politically correct!

Grinnygog · Jun 17, 2017

Docking at a station, I noticed on entry that the slogan was, "Hail the Emperor. Bask in her greatness" (or words to that effect).
Just when has an emperor ever been female? Shouldn't it be Empress? I know it's this political correctness nonsense, but it's a joke because the second part of the slogan alludes to the gender of the "Emperor", i.e. it uses the word "her". Now, if we are being politically correct, then surely to use the word, "her" is wrong? So all I'm saying is that to avoid the impression of being "two faced", the title should be gender specific, in other words, "Empress" instead of "Emperor". Catch my drift?

=TK= · Jun 17, 2017

It's set over a 1000 years into the future.

Just 500 years ago, we used to use titles very differently and I imagine it will change as life goes on

I'd rather they focus on 2.4 if I'm being honest

mossfoot · Jun 17, 2017

Grinnygog said:
Docking at a station, I noticed on entry that the slogan was, "Hail the Emperor. Bask in her greatness" (or words to that effect).
Just when has an emperor ever been female? Shouldn't it be Empress? I know it's this political correctness nonsense, but it's a joke because the second part of the slogan alludes to the gender of the "Emperor", i.e. it uses the word "her". Now, if we are being politically correct, then surely to use the word, "her" is wrong? So all I'm saying is that to avoid the impression of being "two faced", the title should be gender specific, in other words, "Empress" instead of "Emperor". Catch my drift?

If you knew the story behind how she became Empress it would make sense to you. This isn't about 21st century PCness, but 34th century sexism in the Empire.

The Empire has been historically quite sexist and the Emperors up until 3301 were only men. Keeping the title of Emperor is in part an act of holding onto tradition in an otherwise unprecedented event and ruffling fewer feathers.

Grinnygog · Jun 17, 2017

I understand what you're saying and I thank you for enlightening me. It does make sense in light of this evidence. However, it is still only a story and I do wonder if the developers are deliberately trying to be politically correct regardless of the story line. Being British, my allegiance is to Her Majesty Queen and not to Her Majesty the King!! Going back over a century, Queen Victoria was always referred to as an "Empress" and I'm sure that most people would frown upon calling her an "Emperor". So (story aside) I think it's the developers deliberately choosing to be politically correct. But thanks for filling me in on the story. + to your reputation from me.

Arry · Jun 17, 2017

Do you understand just how much it would cost the change all that wording across the galaxy? Changing him to her, witt the word in the same place is easy, But to change Emperor to Empress, would be just too much to warrant the cost of doing so.

Ian Phillips · Jun 17, 2017

Politically correct devs, selling drugs and slaves for profit since 3201

Allchemyst · Jun 18, 2017

Actually, as far as "political correctness" goes, this particular issue is a form of political incorrectness... There are some regions of France where a female president would be called "Mister president" because some insecure conservatives can't even face the idea of being ruled by a woman without giving her a symbolic D*.

Using Emperor here is a symptom of the same mindset, in which the "Empress" is not "The female Emperor", but systematically the "The Emperor's Wife". The position of absolute power cannot, in this mentality, be given a feminine noun.

Political correctness, as far as it's been going, would be all about feminizing the title, and making it more gender-inclusive...

Davor Granic · Jun 18, 2017

Make a station called "Snowflake" and use PS greeting sign &#55357;&#56842; Seriously this is a game that needs ton of stuff and we are arguing over least important.

Iskariot · Jun 18, 2017

Grinnygog said:
Docking at a station, I noticed on entry that the slogan was, "Hail the Emperor. Bask in her greatness" (or words to that effect).
Just when has an emperor ever been female? Shouldn't it be Empress? I know it's this political correctness nonsense, but it's a joke because the second part of the slogan alludes to the gender of the "Emperor", i.e. it uses the word "her". Now, if we are being politically correct, then surely to use the word, "her" is wrong? So all I'm saying is that to avoid the impression of being "two faced", the title should be gender specific, in other words, "Empress" instead of "Emperor". Catch my drift?

I am trying to generate an opinion on this.
I discarded three answers already.
Nope, can't do it.... Don't care.

Ca$hback · Jun 18, 2017

One that always gets me is barista. I'm not chipper enough to be a barista.

Sapyx · Jun 19, 2017

While personally I would prefer she be called "Empress" (and I've called her that on the forums several times before), I can understand the lore reasons why the game refers to her as "Emperor".

According to the lore, the founder of the original Achenar colony was Marlin Duval, an independently wealthy woman with very liberal, egalitarian, democratic ideals. Her brother Hansen Duval bumped her off and founded the Empire and, in order to disassociate himself and his new regime entirely from his sister's abhorrent policies, genetically engineered himself to ensure neither he nor his descendants were physically capable of fathering female children. For the past thousand years, this tradition has been maintained. Therefore, the concept of a "female emperor" has never arisen up till now. It's entirely possible that the version of the Galactic Standard language which the Imperials use doesn't even have a word for "female emperor". However, since this forum is in English and there is a perfectly good word in English that means "female emperor", I shall continue to use that word.

We're not entirely sure how the old emperor and his insane, disinherited son both managed to have daughters (respectively, those would be the Empress Arissa and her Powerplay rival, Princess Aisling). Either the genetic engineering has "worn off", gotten diluted over the past thousand years so those genes were no longer present or dominant, or the old man had himself genetically engineered to reverse the process. There may even be conservative elements within the Imperial hierarchy that believe that the de-engineering of the Imperial family is part of a Federation plot to destabilize the Empire.