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It depends on whether you want it to show what someone would expect a nurse to look like, or show what a nurse. Nothing in the definition of a nurse implies female.

If you ask for a female US president, should the application simply return a black screen?

If you ask for a black US president, would you expect it to only ever return pictures of Barack Obama?




I agree nothing in the definition of nurse implies female, but something in our culture definitely has "nurse -> female". Likewise, nothing in "college student" definitionally implies age, but I wouldn't consider it a success if my system displayed a picture of a 9 year old.


>> Nothing in the definition of a nurse implies female.

Unfortunately it's not a great example with which to make this point. Before Florence Nightingale, a nurse was a person who was employed to suckle your babies. Of course 100% were female.

Wet nurse was a later coining to differentiate the two meanings.


Well, nurse ends in an e, which is usually a feminine ending.


Not really in English.

Uncle, Prince, Sire, and Duke come immediately to mind. Most of their feminine cognates end in consonants.




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