Language that p**ses me off!
I've been thinking about language and the subtle messages that it sends out to people.
For example, the use of 'girl' instead of 'woman'; the use of 'bitch' and 'ho'; the fact that swear words aimed at women always seem to degrade them to their sex or to animals, therefore less than human; and also the ways in which these words are used.
Part of the problem with the usage of 'girl' instead of 'woman' is that young men are called exactly that: young MEN. Instead of 'boys', males past a certain age are definitely called 'young men'. I rarely pick up hearing (well, lipreading) the word 'young woman' when a woman reaches 18 and onwards - even into their 20's some young women are called 'girls'. I think this comes from infantilizing and viewing women as non-threatening, a way of "putting them in their place". It slips out of everyone's mouth, often without them thinking about it. Does language subconciously mean anything or is it just subtle unthinking use that filters in from the media or whatever?
I've found a lot of people, often young women, using the word 'bitch' a lot. I stopped using this word a while ago realising that it degrades women to less than men. I've got nothing against animals (I love them of course!) but degrading women to 'bitch' is like saying "she's inferior, she's animalistic, she's beneath us". Basically, people use the word in terms of a woman being loud or 'bitchy' and so on. But I've noticed young women using the word referring, for example, to their girlfriends as 'my bitch' and so on. I assume this usage comes from rap/hip hop/rnb (its all rubbbish, misogynistic crap) - which is alarming, and also where the words 'pimp' and 'ho' are coming from.
I also notice that whenever a man/boy is saying someone is 'weak' they call them a 'girl'. I get SO pissed off with the use of 'girl' as implying weak, incapable, etc etc. It just reinforces the whole stereotypical idea that women are weak.
And women are also cut down to their body parts when swearing about them (for example, c**t, fanny, etc). This pulls women right down to their body parts and nothing but. I, however, object to the idea that women's body parts should be obscene in the first place - the word 'c**t' is just another word for 'vagina' and what is so obscene about a woman's nether regions (especially in its natural, hairy state)?
The media acts as though the word c**t is the most obscene word in the world, which implies that they view the female body as obscene (incidentally, I think this is what keeps porn going - the fact that there is that polarity between obscenity and purity - the 'guilt/rush' that goes with porn as viewing something "obscene" may keep men coming back).
These are just starting thoughts and I will probably come back to this subject when I've thought about it more clearly.
For example, the use of 'girl' instead of 'woman'; the use of 'bitch' and 'ho'; the fact that swear words aimed at women always seem to degrade them to their sex or to animals, therefore less than human; and also the ways in which these words are used.
Part of the problem with the usage of 'girl' instead of 'woman' is that young men are called exactly that: young MEN. Instead of 'boys', males past a certain age are definitely called 'young men'. I rarely pick up hearing (well, lipreading) the word 'young woman' when a woman reaches 18 and onwards - even into their 20's some young women are called 'girls'. I think this comes from infantilizing and viewing women as non-threatening, a way of "putting them in their place". It slips out of everyone's mouth, often without them thinking about it. Does language subconciously mean anything or is it just subtle unthinking use that filters in from the media or whatever?
I've found a lot of people, often young women, using the word 'bitch' a lot. I stopped using this word a while ago realising that it degrades women to less than men. I've got nothing against animals (I love them of course!) but degrading women to 'bitch' is like saying "she's inferior, she's animalistic, she's beneath us". Basically, people use the word in terms of a woman being loud or 'bitchy' and so on. But I've noticed young women using the word referring, for example, to their girlfriends as 'my bitch' and so on. I assume this usage comes from rap/hip hop/rnb (its all rubbbish, misogynistic crap) - which is alarming, and also where the words 'pimp' and 'ho' are coming from.
I also notice that whenever a man/boy is saying someone is 'weak' they call them a 'girl'. I get SO pissed off with the use of 'girl' as implying weak, incapable, etc etc. It just reinforces the whole stereotypical idea that women are weak.
And women are also cut down to their body parts when swearing about them (for example, c**t, fanny, etc). This pulls women right down to their body parts and nothing but. I, however, object to the idea that women's body parts should be obscene in the first place - the word 'c**t' is just another word for 'vagina' and what is so obscene about a woman's nether regions (especially in its natural, hairy state)?
The media acts as though the word c**t is the most obscene word in the world, which implies that they view the female body as obscene (incidentally, I think this is what keeps porn going - the fact that there is that polarity between obscenity and purity - the 'guilt/rush' that goes with porn as viewing something "obscene" may keep men coming back).
These are just starting thoughts and I will probably come back to this subject when I've thought about it more clearly.
posted by Liz at
3:32 pm
|
7 Comments
