Hello!
As well as guys, I’m pretty sure there are females using Bunpro too. I would be so happy if the word “guys” could be retired forever.
“You guys” has actually become neuter gender in modern English. It’s cognate to “you all” or “y’all” these days. It’s very common hear to groups of women referring to each other using “you guys,” for instance. The implicit masculine gender of “guy” really doesn’t apply to “you guys” anymore.
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Welcome!
It’s not gender neutral at all. Several large companies that I’ve worked for have made an effort to encourage staff to use more gender inclusive language.
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I do not speak for anyone but myself, but for me the word ‘guys’ is completely gender neutral, as it is for most (I believe) Australians. One of the main reasons I use it is actually to be inclusive.
My view of inclusiveness could be completely wrong, but to me, if I start choosing words specifically with the goal of making sure different groups of people are happy, that very act in itself is being exclusive. Maybe this is because it forces me to stop thinking of everyone as everyone, and forces me to start compartmentalizing people into groups.
‘Guys’, to me, has and always will just mean ‘friend’. It’s just saying ‘hey friends’.
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My usage of it is very much the same way as Asher’s. There’s no gender involved in it at all for myself, and y’all doesn’t exactly flow off the British tongue as an alternative. I also use lads in the same way.
However, as someone who isn’t cis, I fully get that guys/ladscan be gendered for others, in the ways touched upon in that article. If someone expresses that they’re not comfortable with it, I try and find an alternative. It’s only ever happened once for me though, haha. Majority of people I meet seem to be as neutral as myself on the terms.
Either way, I’m sure that absolutely no malice was intended with the use of the term in this post, and honestly I’m surprised to see an old post pulled back like this!
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Fellow Aussie here. Can confirm ‘guys’ is gender neutral here.
In the article itself it says “Even if guys is widely regarded as gender-neutral, there will still be a sizable contingent of conscientious objectors”
I think intent is a big contributing factor when it comes to these things. If someone specifically said that they didn’t like being called a certain word I would endeavour not to use that word with them. If I continued to use that word deliberately then that would be a problem.
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I’m actually familiar with that Atlantic piece, and with the topic in general. For our friends in the Commonwealth and elsewhere, this is part of a broader American politico-cultural movement that seeks to impose prescriptivist rules on language for social reasons. I have no desire to get involved in a discussion on that.
Mostly, I wanted to come to Daru’s defense and emphasize nothing in the original post is unreasonable or intentionally exclusive. Of course there are female learners on Bunpro and of course they are every bit as welcome as everyone else. Using the pronoun “you guys” does not contradict that. Rather, perhaps we can all instead acknowledge that language is highly dynamic, imprecise, and necessarily general. It’s impossible for an entire language to somehow encapsulate all the particular preferences or inclinations of any one person or group. It’s something we all have to share, and the more we try to change it based on external factors, the less we’ll be understood, not more. What we can control, however, is how we react to other people’s speech. If we put ourselves in their shoes and understand what they are trying to convey and in the spirit they’re trying to convey it, I think that will move us much more quickly toward mutual respect and empathy than insisting others change their speech to meet our expectations.
That being said, if a particular term of phrase is truly objectionable, then asking people to refrain from using it is reasonable. But let’s try to be gracious with each other in doing so. We can quickly wear out others’ goodwill by demanding they speak in a contrived way that does not actually reflect the broader use of the language.
I hope that came through in a constructive tone.
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The hard part is always finding an alternative. But unlike replacing “husband” and “wife” with “partner” (which I still work on), it seems like there’s plenty of alternatives here:
— hey everyone
— hey there
— hey buds
— hey folks
— hey members
— hey Bunpro-ites
— hey Bun-nies (ok, maybe not this one 
)
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It is quite ironic considering that Japanese is particularly more gendered than English.
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Must admit, I am a big fan of any Bun-pun names
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If you ever fancy referring to us all as Bunnies, I would not be opposed to that. Who doesn’t love a bunny?
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