I am always look for juicy tidbits on the use of gender in language and I think I just struck GOLD! Tumblr user mitosisisyourtosis or as they self identify, Feminist Chewbacca, recently posted the image above with the quote “men fabricated the idea that they are the default sex to compensate for their biological inferiority and general superfluousness. this is not just the “natural order” this is the language of a patriarchal culture.”
Now, I’m not going to comment on Feminist Chewbacca’s perspective on the use of gendered language here--I’ll leave that up to you.
However, what ensues is one of the juiciest linguistic and feminist flame wars I’ve seen the internet provide. Seemingly from folks that know what they’re talking about.
Me, as I read the whole thing:
Brief summary:
- rhysiare lays in and picks every one of the words cited in the image apart, asserting that each word’s evolution is devoid of masculine/male/man-preferences
- rhysiare gets sassy AF and throws vague linguistics credentials around and basically invites Feminist Chewbacca to come for them
- a bunch of internet commentators and media sites pick up on the exchange and publish how a feminist just got schooled by a linguist
- but wait!!! It gets so much better!
- madmaudlingoes chimes in and lays down some serious #truth on the matter (and sounds hella smart). They:
++ a) credentialize themselves heavily, and
++ b) explain how language evolution cannot be looked at in a vacuum by tracing words to their origin but rather must take current social use and construction into account and,
++ c) discredits a good half of the points that rhysiare makes - Meanwhile, Feminist Chewbacca says nothing
My conclusion:
- Wait for the full story, internet!
- Etymology is super sexy, but even if the origins of gendered language may perhaps be divorced from overt sexism and patriarchy (which, hello, they’re not), check yourself on current use of language
I’ll let you draw your own conclusions:
