It has to be taken with context, partially. “Craftsman” is gendered and therefore its usage is sometimes problematic. “Headmaster” also. The word “mastery” is not at fault, but “master” to denote male gender or indeed relationships, that’s a problem. In this case though, it was a default GitHub had established or continued... so they’ve tweaked the language to make people feel a bit more comfortable. Change is annoying but in this case, I see it as inconsequential and unrelated to words like “masterclass” or “masterpiece”... for now, at least. Word usage and meaning can change over time...
"master" isn't gendered when used as a verb or adverb, and I would think masterclass refers to those usages.
For example, it makes sense to say "she mastered her fears" but not that "she mistressed her fears". Similarly, "she mastered fer field" works but "she mistressed her field" does not.
Really, it's just the usage as a noun that's problematic from a logical standpoint, as I see it. If the usage relates to "control" as master denotes as a noun, then it might be problematic (even if the historical use of controlling slaves is not the only use). If it refers to proficiency, or overcoming a hurdle, then it's not really related to the control aspect of the word, and the problematic history that comes along with it.
Now, whether society, or parts of it, are able to distinguish those usages from each other or whether that causes contention that is better avoided, I don't know.
Thanks for the response. I’m also curios how other languages are contending with the backlash against gendered words. Everything in French, Spanish, Italian, etc. is gendered, right?
My understanding is that outside of names or ways of describing yourself, others and actions, in other languages you’d tend to disassociate the gender of a word from the word’s usage. As in, a word is not problematic because it has a masculine gender, but rather in its usage and meaning if it excludes women/minorities/doesn’t use inclusive language. Perhaps a similar word in English would be “perfume” which is perhaps similar to a feminine-gendered word. The male version would be “cologne”. Neither word is especially problematic — the concept, scent products, doesn’t particularly exclude either gender, though related social uses and norms might.
That said, language definitely changes viewpoints. Things don’t always map 1-to-1 between languages, and a lot of cultures have different ideas about when and how to make these kinds of corrections. Sometimes language is set centrally, sometimes slang and memes propagate new terminology or reference current events. Words change the way culture changes, or so it’s been my experience...
