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Post by moosethemoose on Jun 8, 2011 23:31:30 GMT -5
I'm writing an essay on 'Sexism in Australian English' for uni and while trying to found some sources I discovered this excellent article that you should all read. It's an exercise in creative writing and imagination as well as a fantastically made point. |
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Jun 8, 2011 23:50:59 GMT -5
Oh goodness, my eyes are crossing at all that text and all my lack-of-sleep, but I reblogged something relevant to my tumblr a while ago and am determined to find it for you before I go to sleep... dum-dee-dum... Aha! onlyaworkingtitle.tumblr.com/post/6073919195/writing-gender Perhaps not as relevant as it was in my memory, but an interesting essay nonetheless. Oh, and here's another, which has more to do with one specific word and how its usage has changed: onlyaworkingtitle.tumblr.com/post/5880980659/the-word-dude-reflectsPS: I promise to read "A Person Paper on Purity in Language" (if only for the awesome alliteration in the title) and discuss it heartily sometime soon, but not now. Now finish checking internet, then sleep. |
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Post by Fuck Yeah Dion on Jun 8, 2011 23:59:27 GMT -5
Place-saver.
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ovid
Armadillo Pup
Posts: 17
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Post by ovid on Jun 9, 2011 10:22:35 GMT -5
Potentially unpopular opinion: I really liked this article. It has always bothered me to hear the clamour over man as an umbrella term for humans. Yes, it comes from a time when women were treated as chattel, but I have never taken offense to it. I am much more offended by "who gives away this woman" and "man and wife" in wedding ceremonies than I do about man as an all-inclusive term.
I also understand the language evolves as it needs to to fit a society or time ('kindle' no longer means sticks to start a fire and 'car' no longer implies a horse drawn carriage) but some of the changes that people want to introduce are a little silly.
This is only slightly related, but onlyaworkingtitle reminded me of it in the article by Marie Brennan; there are sexist connotations to every word. If I was to say whore, the majority of the people who heard me would think woman. If I said doctor most people think man (this one is changing rapidly). My personal annoyance is when gender stereotypes are purposely used to create a reaction from the audience. By this I mean when you see/read a hooded figure fight all of the bad guys and rescue the protagonist or a biker who wins the race and then the hood/helmet comes off and it was really a woman. It's supposed to make the woman seem mystically wonderful and bad-ass, but, to me, it just seems to be trying to hard. I just think this stereotyping and the word connotations thereof are one more thing to look at and habits to break before any sort of resolution to the sexist word game can be made.
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andy
Young Armadillo
Posts: 80
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Post by andy on Jun 10, 2011 7:47:39 GMT -5
Potentially unpopular opinion: I really liked this article. It has always bothered me to hear the clamour over man as an umbrella term for humans. Yes, it comes from a time when women were treated as chattel, but I have never taken offense to it. I am much more offended by "who gives away this woman" and "man and wife" in wedding ceremonies than I do about man as an all-inclusive term. At least in the UK, both those phrases are optional and you can tell the person officiating your wedding ceremony to change them if you want to. |
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Post by onlyaworkingtitle on Jun 10, 2011 14:27:11 GMT -5
Potentially unpopular opinion: I really liked this article. It has always bothered me to hear the clamour over man as an umbrella term for humans. Yes, it comes from a time when women were treated as chattel, but I have never taken offense to it. I am much more offended by "who gives away this woman" and "man and wife" in wedding ceremonies than I do about man as an all-inclusive term. At least in the UK, both those phrases are optional and you can tell the person officiating your wedding ceremony to change them if you want to. I'm pretty sure that's an option anywhere -- you just have to find an officiator who's willing to say what you want said, which might be harder in some areas than others. |
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ovid
Armadillo Pup
Posts: 17
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Post by ovid on Jun 10, 2011 17:23:40 GMT -5
At least in the UK, both those phrases are optional and you can tell the person officiating your wedding ceremony to change them if you want to. I'm pretty sure that's an option anywhere -- you just have to find an officiator who's willing to say what you want said, which might be harder in some areas than others. I know it is. They are just phrases that bother me that no one really seems to think about. This actually happened at my sister's wedding. She was not happy, but my mom had told her many times before to discuss with the officiator what he could and could not say so there wasn't much sympathy. |
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