The Block viewers have called the show “woke” after its judges revealed they’ll no longer refer to the main bedroom and ensuite as “master” areas due to the title’s problematic history.
During the September 1 episode’s judging of the contestants’ main bathrooms, Shaynna Blaze wondered whether “master ensuite” is the “right term to use these days.”
“There are undertones of colonialism and sexism, and I personally refer to it as a main bedroom,” fellow judge Darren Palmer expressed. “If something doesn’t make someone feel good, you can change it.”
Shaynna and Darren, along with new full-time judge Marty Fox, then made the “executive decision” to end the term after 19 seasons.
From now on, they will refer to the rooms as the “main bedroom” and “main ensuite.”
TLC Interiors director Chris Carroll also told Yahoo Lifestyle that the change is “a long time coming”.
“Those of us in the industry have been using the ‘main’ or ‘primary’ bedroom terminology for ages,” he explained. “The same goes for retiring ‘his and her’ basins. They’re called dual or twin basins now.
“Times change, and we should change with them.”
The Block viewers say change is ‘taking the piss’
Mostly, The Block fans weren’t too phased by the change in bedroom and bathroom titles.
However, several viewers wondered if the show was “taking the piss” when it came to the “woke” update.
“I’ve never heard anyone have an issue with ‘master bedroom’,” one person penned online, while another agreed, “Seems like a mountain out of a molehill kind of deal”.
“The word ‘master’, meaning main or principal, is sexist? Surely we’re being punked?” a third user wrote.
Meanwhile, a viewer who identifies “as a Black person” said they “don’t see why their talk about ‘master and main’ was necessary”.
“It’s a damn bathroom,” they wrote.
What is the history of the term ‘master bathroom’?
According to Yahoo Lifestyle, the first recorded mention of the term “master bedroom” was in a 1926 Sears mail-order catalogue in the United States, with bedrooms previously being described as “chambers.”
The New York Times reported in August 2020 that several industry groups had planned to stop using the term “master bedroom” amid the Black Lives Matter movement due to its ties to slavery.
Historically, a “master of the house” was a male head of household who had command over other people living there — typically women, servants and slaves.
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