feminine word endings

suffixes like -ess, -ette, and -trix (1) specify a person's sex when gender is irrelevant; (2) carry a demeaning sense of littleness or triviality; (3) perpetuate the notion that the male is the norm and the female is a subset, a deviation, a secondary classification. A poet is defined as "one who writes poetry" while a poetess is defined as "a female poet"; men are thus "the real thing" and women are sort of like them. The recommended procedure is to use the base word for both sexes (thus, "waiter" instead of "waitress," "executor" instead of "executrix"). For a complete discussion of feminine word endings and a list of examples, see the Writing Guidelines.