NavList:

Sean C, you wrote:
"I don't see the usage here as being a "shot" at Earhart at all ... let alone a cheap one."

I'll just say right here that I believe you. I saw your earlier comment saying that you liked calling Earhart "princess", and that did not seem to be a negative comment. Also, Antoine who originally applied the label "princess" is in the habit of giving cute names to many people and things, like "Lady Moon" and all that, so I don't think he intended the label to be significantly negative. Follow-up usage has applied it as an insult.

It's simplistically sexist. How many of the odd male characters in the history of navigation have been tagged as "prince" in NavList conversations? Howard Hughes and Wiley Post come to mind, and there's always Charles Lindbergh --all contemporaries of Amelia Earhart who were also objects of excessive media attention. Why not "Prince Hughes" or "Prince Post" or "Prince Lindbergh"? Sexism works by demeaning women. The label "princess" is almost universally a pejorative, an insult, when applied to adult women (and sometimes adult men) who do not have actual royal lineage or legal right. That's true, right? We are all aware of this, right?

Frank Reed