Dear Sirs

[Suzanne12]

Is this an acceptable way to start an email that will be received by either a man or a woman? Would you say something if a colleague used this term to send an email to a generic inbox?

Yabu - it's fine
Yanbu - it's not acceptable anymore

Absolutely say something! What a wanker.

It is sexist and archaic.

Yabu its standard use when writing to generic emails where the gender of the receiver is unknown, also used in formal letter writing. So much better than the "to whom it may concern" which some people use.

It should be ‘To Whom it May Concern’ if you don’t know the gender of the intended recipient. Or simply ‘Good morning/afternoon’

I’d think the sender is a sexist dinosaur if I received that. Someone who holds ‘tradition’ over equality - why assume that only men are important enough to address.

'Dear Sir/Madam' or 'To whom it may concern' would be better formal alternatives. If informal I would open with 'Good morning' 'Hello' or 'Hi'.

I think it's acceptable if the recipient is an unknown. However personally I'd use sir/madam or whomever it may concern.

Still standard use for my industry for formal responses in certain situations. Can't get wound up about it, everyone knows what it means.

I don’t think this is widely acceptable nowadays at all! Maybe to a certain type of person but it’s completely outdated and depending on the circumstances I’d probably say something to the sender.

Yabu its standard use when writing to generic emails where the gender of the receiver is unknown, also used in formal letter writing

Don't be silly - it used to be standard, back in the times when the sex of the recipient of a business letter was invariably male. Its not been the norm for decades.

The best thing to do is to find out the name of the recipient or if it is to a group then just use 'Good Morning' of 'Good Afternoon' as a pp suggested.

I think that Dear Madam/Sir is also pretty rude as it is impersonal but Dear Sirs is horrendous.

Afaik it's widely used in legal

Totally unacceptable! I have seen a job application come in with this form of address and it contributed to its going into the “No” pile.

My exh wanted a loan for a car.
He addressed his letter..
Dear Mr bank manager(!!!!)

Unnecessarily formal for an email. Pompous even.

YANBU everyday sexism matters.

Still standard use for my industry for formal responses in certain situations. Can't get wound up about it, everyone knows what it means.

Yeah, it means you're in an industry with some level of institutional sexism.

I’d think the sender is a sexist dinosaur if I received that. Someone who holds ‘tradition’ over equality - why assume that only men are important enough to address

And also this. And if you disgagree then think about why you would never send an email opening with 'Dear Madams'...

disagree

Dear Sir/Madam or To whom it may concern.

Dear Sirs is not neutral. The assumption is that you must be emailing a man!

Or 'Dear Madam/Sir' which is what I prefer...

Legal letters always have Dear Sirs, or just "Sirs," in my experience.

It’s amazing how many people use male as default eg you see a fox “ah look he’s running under the fence” or in a book “on his first day the student will” etc etc

Yes it is about time that the legal profession dragged its arse in to the 21st century.

It is in the legal industry. The sender is a young man.