But Gloredhel and Noreen did you read the words to the song or not?

I know several teenagers who would not use the word man to describe both men and women and, cruel as this may sound at the moment, I know several female teenagers who would, until they are older and then they would begin to question the wisdom of agreeing with everything stated by the attractive but purblind male population in the hopes of getting their attention, and I admit that I have made this mistake myself.

Personally whether you say you are ethically conscious or politically conscious I don't care as long as you are conscious. An awful lot of what is now hysterically considered 'PC' is actually an attempt to be courteous to an enlarged group of persons with whom being courteous is considered desirable. At their roots courtesy and civility are to do with trying to make people comfortable with each other. They are not attempts to introduce rigid rules of what is and what is not allowed to be said or done in the same way that red means stop and green means go in the language of traffic signals.

Altering the words or not is not as important as singing the song as well as you can while acknowledging the differing interpretations that the words will have for various listeners, and the interpretations will differ depending on your audience. A performer has to decide for him or herself the boundaries of his or her own interpretation of any song and the distance he or she is willing to go beyond or around those boundaries. For some this will mean singing some songs in the face of open disapproval and for others it will mean altering words or set lists at the hint of possible disapprobation. Whatever makes you feel happiest and perform your best. In your face performers might like to try accomodating other's tastes while nervous perfomers might attempt standing firm on their interpretations. Either way can be a stretch and will ultimately make them better.