I heartily agree with the sentiment, but:
Is it “Males Out Of Female Jails” or “Men Out Of Women’s Jails”?
MAKE UP YOUR FUCKING MINDS
(Given the fact that “male” and “female” are adjectives FFS, the truly correct terminology in the former would be “Male Prisoners Out Of Female Jails” (which scans really nicely) — but that wouldn’t fit on the sign, would it, and by all means let’s not allow linguistic clarity and rhythm to crowd the real estate.)
Another gin, Kim? Why yes, I think I will.
The intentional choice to use ‘male’ and ‘female’ as nouns is one of my all time pet peeves. It’s hard to get too worked up in this case as I 100% agree with her cause.
But, still …
I’d go with “keep men out of women’s jails”. Jails don’t have sexes, so calling them “female” can’t be right.
Alas, English.
The use of an adjective as a noun is nominalisation, also called nominalization. It is a practice of long standing. Europe is presently afflicted by the Greens, Stendahl had his Le Rouge et le Noir, and Constantinople had its Blues and Greens. Everyone knows what is meant when reference is made to Blacks, and Whites. And that is just color adjectives.
Kipling trusted his meaning would get across when he said the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
An example which made it into Scripture, at least as translated; “The poor you will always have with you. “
Nominalisation is here to stay.
Am I the only one who thinks pink is just a dude in drag? And not an attractive one at that.
As our esteemed host suggested yesterday, has anyone ever seen Billy Idol and Pink at the same time?