To wonder why some people call male babies "little man" but don't call female babies "little woman"?

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

I've seen a few people on here who don't like the term "Little Man" and I'm one of them.

I couldn't articulate why until just now...when I realised it's because nobody calls female babies "little woman"...they might say "Little Lady" but they don't want to call a baby girl a woman because they like infantalising females....and it's not "flattering" or something for a girl baby to be called a woman whereas a male baby can't be "manly" soon enough because being a man is always a positive thing....am I right?

Little man is just horrific. I'm not clever enough to explain my hatred, I just can't stand it. I actually never hear 'princess', so my dislike is just reserved for little man.

"Bunny yes it does. It's often seen as an unnecessary word on MN. Anyone posting "Hello Ladies" will usually be met with derision."

But then there is Mumsnet world and the real world. Mumsnet is often up it's own arse.

When ds was little he got little man, little dude, little sausage (high fives pp!) little bugger and all sorts of other stuff because quite frankly a lot of the time I was too tired to remember his name, never mind the semantics of whether my chosen nickname was a feminist slur or not

Where I am from, we use dialect terms that mean both 'little man' and 'little woman'.

My friend is from the rural NI. She calls her son wee man, her daughter wee woman and random kids e.g. the neighbour's son 'yon cub' :o

Hetero I have to do that too. If the DCs say 'that woman' my instinct is that it isn't as polite as saying 'that lady', whereas 'that man' is fine.

Interestingly I only seem to hear someone referred to as 'gentleman' when someone is being offensive but trying not to be, eg 'that coloured gentleman'.

With regards to the original question, I agree OP that its these small seemingly innocuous things that do perpetuate the differences between how men and women are viewed.

I agree op.

How is it 'overthinking' to wonder why things are how they are?

Both wee man and wee woman are widely used terms in my neck of the woods.

I find it irritating and unnecessary.
I can quite see the underlying connotations but I don't think people mean that. Therein lies the problem. People don't consider what their words may mean when they come spilling out of their mouths. And whatever the intent, it can be deemed to be patronising in this instance. I'm sure nobody means to infanticise females, but that is the feel of it.

I don't get the whole calling little girls 'princess' (or worse, 'prinny') or calling adults 'hun' or 'babe' either. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old bag.

Pedestriana - well no one is forcing you to use them. What names have you used for your children over the years?

Bambi indeed. I have one child, who I refer to by their name.

I used to call my sons little man sometimes, probably because my Mum used it for my brothers. I sometimes call my daughter little woman, or little lady. Actually I had quite a few different nicknames for all of them. Couldn't give a rat's arse if anyone else liked the names I chose to call my own children and couldn't care less what other people call their own kids either (barring abusive terms, obviously).

I am from rural Ireland where little woman is a well used phrase.

I live in Norfolk, - 'my man' and 'my woman' are common ways of addressing young children.

I'm not massively keen on little man though - they are children not small adults, apart from any underlying sexism. But I don't like any of those phrases like 'be a man' 'man up' 'grow a pair' etc, which essentially mean either 'be aggressive' or deny any emotion you may feel on this matter, - as if those are a good thing, when IMO not acknowledging emotions and feelings is pretty catastrophic for those doing it and those on the receiving end of underdeveloped emotional intelligence. I think we harm our boys and our girls if we propagate these stereotypes.

KurriKurri

I've also noted how many MN posters seems to think the phrase 'man up' is totally fine, while at the same time taking others to task for their language (regardless of gender, I think the using the phrase 'man up' is a pretty foolproof cretin-detector, but maybe that's just me...)

I used to call my dd 'little woman' sometimes - but only in private...

Don't think you're overthinking it..this is a discussion forum after all.

Call DS (2)...bumfluff, little sausage, little chicken, bear cub, little man, The Terror, swine....

Don't give much thought to them really.

I do know, long before on discovered Mumsnet, that I refused to call DD (11) "princess" as it is just so pointless IMO, but happily called her "little lady"

But not little woman?

lol I am afraid I cannot even hear the word 'lady' these days without thinking of Walliams and his sidekick going 'AI am a LAYYY-DEEEE'

my personal pet hate is people calling their kids prince/princess. i dont know why it annoys me as much as it does. probably because its so twee and vomit-inducing.

I don't like little man/lady. I don't know why, I just don't. So I refer to my daughters (2.5y and 2 months) as "Madam" and "Tiny Madam". Or sometimes just "Sausage". Or "Big'un" and "Wee'un".

Where I'm from we say "wee woman"

I've heard "young lady" used for baby girls