Someone came up with a gender-neutral way to say ‘daddy’ and it’s perfect

Sep 17 2019
Written by Lily Wakefield

Pride participant seen with rainbow feathers and a "Daddy" fan

A participant seen with rainbow feathers and a “Daddy” fan during the London Pride parade. (Andres Pantoja/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty)

A tweet went viral this weekend, providing what everyone has been looking for – a gender-neutral version of the term “daddy”.

The tweet, which was posted by Twitter user “chlostrophobic”, now has more 60,000 retweets, 300,000 likes and more than a thousand comments.

It read: “Saying ‘yes daddy’ – boring, overused, reinforces patriarchal ideals. Saying ‘yes chef’ – cool, inventive, gender neutral.”

A “daddy” is usually the older person in a romantic or sexual relationship, and the term often indicates the power structure in the relationship, where the older partner has a larger income or social power.

Saying ‘yes daddy’

– boring
– overused
– reinforces patriarchal ideals

Saying ‘yes chef’

– cool
– inventive
– gender neutral

— Chloé? (@chlostrophobic) September 14, 2019

yes chef is far better and non binary inclusive so. winner winner
— sasha (@rabtyIerr) September 15, 2019

However, the “inventive” idea made some Twitter users who work with chefs a bit uncomfortable.

This makes my kitchen job feel very different all of a sudden ?
— Lucas Grange (@QuieterInPerson) September 14, 2019

As someone who’s currently in culinary school and literally is required to say this when in my classes; fuck
— ? ? ? ? ? ? (@LittleOldBear) September 15, 2019

Others were unenthusiastic as they thought the new gender-neutral term might kill the mood, especially one person who calls their actual father “chef”.