Nah, it had nothing to do with PC. Back then, PC was about labels: "disabled" (they tried to get "differently enabled" to stick!) vs. "handicapped," "little people" vs. "midgets" and stuff like that. You were even supposed to say "queer" instead of "gay," and some were just starting to use "gender" in non-grammatical contexts like referring to a person's "gender" (which was look-it-up-in-a-textbook incorrect back then).