Is It Okay to Say “Hey Guys”? - The Atlantic

The gendered nature of the term "guys" was brought to my attention first by Bridget Kromhout. At the time I honestly didn’t really hear what she was saying, but the matter stuck with me and over the last few years I've largely removed "guys" as a reference to a group of people. I think this is important, especially in industries like tech with such large gender imbalances.

I also heard that guys could grate on women working at male-heavy companies. In tech in particular, some told me they saw the word as yet another symptom of a female-minimizing industry. “There are a lot of guys in tech and ‘guys’ is used all the time in my work and social environments by both men and women, but since it doesn't resonate with me anymore, I do feel like I'm not part of the group,” says Amy Chong, a 29-year-old user-experience researcher in San Francisco.

Per the article I don't like using the term "folks". Perhaps it is because I’m from the midwest, but I have the perception that it feels too folksy. I tend to just say sentences differently, so that I can use terms like "everyone" instead. Sometimes I get tripped up, but that is pretty rare these days.

I do now notice much more when people do use "guys" to address groups of men or women. The oddest to me is when I see a woman address a group of all women and use the term "guys". I don't correct these, but I do find it an odd use. The article actually comes to the conclusion that that is all probably fine, and will continue and that "guys" will lose it’s gender even more than it has in the past. 🤷‍♂️