Flickr Discussion-
Ok, let me just start by saying
that personally, I think that some people take the whole “sexist language”
issue to an extreme and pick apart a lot of language which I (as a woman) find
to be innocent and inoffensive. For instance, I refer to myself, my female
friends, and female family members as “girl” all the time. I don’t find there
to be some dark or sinister double meaning to this seemingly innocent word. As
a matter of fact, most often I find this to be an endearing term for both men
and women. Calling someone a “girl” as opposed to a “woman” (in my opinion at
least) points more towards a certain innocence, purity, internal youth etc.
Then again, it’s all in how you interpret things.
Despite my own personal opinion, if
I was responding to the discussion based on what is written in the text I would
take on a more politically correct stance. I would tell the people in the
discussion that language is subject to interpretation and isn’t always gender
neutral. Although an individual may use a particular word or phrase innocently
and only with the best of intentions, it could still come across as offensive
or sexist if your word choice is not given proper analysis. Because men and
women are wired differently, have different histories, and experience life in different
ways it is often difficult to relate to one another through language while
maintaining equality in the spoken word. To be safe, it is important that you keep descriptions
linear. For example, you could refer to a male and female as “boy and girl” or
“man and woman”. This is fine, but when you start mixing the terms, giving one
a seemingly privileged status over the other, that is where things get sticky.
So you wouldn’t say “man and girl” or “boy and woman”, because it seems that in
each phrase one of the words offers an elevated status, thereby making the
other one subordinate. It is important to assess people of different genders
using the SAME criteria, and making sure that your language reflects that
equality. Because language is completely left to interpretation, we must be
aware of others and be sensitive in our verbal and written words.
I completely agree with your opening statement about how over the top people get about "sexist" language. I think way too many people are way to sensitive about what sepcific words someone might use. I think it may make some people affraid of even speaking their mind. The fact they may be misunderstood might keep them silent.
ReplyDeleteI know I have a history of saying the wrong thing but meant something way different. Saying "boy" or "girl" when refering to someone older is no big deal to me. I do, however, try to be sensitive to other peoples "needs" and speak accordingly.
I have heard of some women being upset if they are called "Ma'am" if they are young or upset if they are called "Miss" if they are older. It can be very confusing somethimes. It can also be frustrating when you have to waste time trying to sort that thing out. Maybe I'm the problem. I think we spend too much energy worrying about "political correctness". Although, I'm probably just screwed in the head anyway.
I agree that some people take it to far. The get offended by the littlest things that are not really sexist, and usually are not meant to be sexist. But they take it the wrong way and get their feelings hurt. Because of this, I think it is important to check over a speech to make sure that nothing sounds sexist. It is easier to just take a small extra step to not offend your audience. You want them to listen to your speech, and sometimes to agree with you on something. If you offend an audience member, they will probably not listen to you, and that defeats the whole purpose of your speech.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you that people seem to over analyze the meaning of words and are over sensitive to certain terms. There is obvious language that is definitely offensive and certain jokes and stereotypical language that I find offensive. But simply being referred to as a "girl" is something that I do not get offended by. I find that people in general are overly sensitive and that we are becoming a society that cannot say anything without offending somebody or a group of people. I understand that when one is presenting a public speech they need to be more sensitive to the variety of people and cultures that they are speaking to but in general when people are just having a casual conversation I feel that people should be able to understand the true meaning of what you are trying to say and know that you are not actually trying to offend anybody.
ReplyDelete