re: #170 Simply Sarah

That aside, I think that trying to get people to understand how casually they use terms rooted in power and privilege is important to getting them to understand the dynamics behind them. Bring it all out above the surface, rather than letting it lurk below.

It’s not just terms rooted in power and privilege, though. It’s about identity. “Wimp” is a word that only is an insult to men, really— it’s funny, but the stereotype of women in this case is protective against the insult. “Wimp” is an insult because of gender roles that our culture has, not due to power and/or privilege.

Perhaps I’m incorrectly projecting my own thinking onto others here. Perhaps you are doing the same. And yes, it’s risky because of this very sort of thing, where you get caught up in if a word is ‘OK’ or not, rather than getting to the center of the cultural problems.

See, that’s my main complaint. Obviously, we’re communicating through a text-based medium, and so talking about language is natural, but to me it always feels like you’re saying if we stopped the use of these words we would have a significant effect, and I simply don’t believe that’s true. I think new words, new phrases would spring up, and it’d turn into an endless rigmarole of chase-the-sexist.