At one point in the story of her journey, she noted with pride, "That was the ballsiest thing I've ever done." Even after I pointed out her words, it took her a second to realize what I was talking about.
It runs deep.
To tilt too much in the other direction is to preemptively assume the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as an objective reality, when it is nowhere near that strong.
Timing is everything though. Where and when words are used matter a lot. Not everyone will always agree on that.
Dare I say it, but this happens with the word "faggot" in certain places such as violent online game chat. Terrible word in almost all circumstances. But in some violent action games where all the virtual characters are male, you may wish to sledge an opponent with something stronger than "sissy". Suggesting the opponent does not meet the standards of the male gender role, requires a word fit for that occasion. "Faggot" steps up, phonetically punchy, scalding, indecent, it is for a moment free from the usual derogatory swipe against homosexual men, and for a second inspires fun and laughs. It can't be over-used however. But with the right timing and placement, it can be used by all in the game, male, female, gay or straight, without repercussion or the burden of having done a bad thing.
(Fun fact: Faggots are a traditional British dish made from meat offal. Its existence frequently horrifies Americans when they first learn of it.)
It drives me nuts, but I'm well aware of how deeply that idiom has sunk its fangs into the English language. So I subconsciously roll my eyes and make a little wish that we could come up with a better idiom for describing fastidiousness and move on. Some things in life are not worth protesting...
Er, no. I'm pretty sure most people using that phrase are not using it literally, and I don't think any honest listener ever confuses the usage for a literal one.
Perhaps the distastefulness of the word might even encourage us to improve upon the character traits of "anal", so that we may avoid hearing the word.
It's an ugly word. But that's the point. The behaviour it refers to is ugly.
Our society will be better off if we relax about actual real differences between the sexes, between cultures and races, and have a bit of fun about the differences. As comedians do all the time. It seems like as soon as someone says anything even approaching a casual reference to these natural differences, out comes the sexist/racist red card, followed by a lecture about how we all should know better.
If "ballsy" is a positive description and you literally don't have balls, then it can be seen as obliquely ruling you out from ever really behaving in that way.
Whether it's something you'd say in a business setting is a different conversation entirely.
I was trying to find an example of a part of anatomy being used that only applies to women, but could only come up with the negative example of "hysterical".
Well, lots of things "can be seen" in lots of different ways; that doesn't speak to how reasonable such behavior is. If you said Merry Christmas to me, I "could see" it as religious bigotry, were I so inclined.
"Ballsy" when used to describe courage, is as removed from the actual body part as "bosom of civilisation" is to a woman's breasts.
Googling "ballsy" returns dictionary examples such as "she was a cool, ballsy woman".
A public confession of thoughcrime is an important first step, combined with consequences of some sort.