(Untitled)

Sep 01, 2007 03:11

How do you say "shemale" in Japanese?

taboos, insults, japanese, gender

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happymrlocust August 31 2007, 20:57:34 UTC
Everyone has the right to self-identify the way they like, wouldn't you agree?

I'm sorry, I don't see how that has any application to the word at hand.

She makes the point of "Why would you want to use that word", and that's a fair question in the circumstance. Why would you use such a term, with such negative connotations, to describe yourself or others? There are a multitude of less offensive terms to use. It might even be easier to translate if the correct term is used.

And... as for "condescending" how do you know she doesn't work with victims of abuse due to being transgendered or in transition? Not that she does, but you make the assumption that she does not have a legitimate point to find fault with the use of the term.

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happymrlocust August 31 2007, 21:18:07 UTC
A fairly reasonable demand given the history and use of the term.

There was no reason stated why such a word would *want* to be translated, and as we have already covered, the word itself is pretty offensive, so some kind of questioning as to why a word *would* be translated (in many cases the context is as important as the word itself) sounds to me to make perfect sense.

Just as non-qualification doesn't stop someone from defending a group, qualification doesn't necessarily mean you get to speak for all involved.

In either way, the word in question, as unsettling as it is in context, has had a equivalent found for it.

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velvet_tipping August 31 2007, 22:29:44 UTC
happymrlocust August 31 2007, 22:38:26 UTC
Hmm, I'm not so convinced that the word is as ripe for reclaiming, as say, queer would be. Shemale *sounds* like a word comprised of two parts that have codified meanings in other scenarios. Then again, so is femnazi. ... not that I've ever heard *that* used by anyone either. :)

Though, I guess I'm the wrong person to ask, but it'd be an interesting avenue of investigation to see exactly how "reclaimable" the term is.

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velvet_tipping August 31 2007, 22:41:14 UTC
happymrlocust August 31 2007, 23:02:32 UTC
*Shrugs* As I said, I'm the wrong person to ask.

How would it be better for the process of word reclamation for me personally to see a logical reason why it *could* be reclaimed systematically from what it's been used for previously? There are plenty of words that have not been reclaimed for one reason or another. I can't say for certain if this is one of them or not.

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velvet_tipping August 31 2007, 23:10:07 UTC
happymrlocust August 31 2007, 23:36:59 UTC
Well, I'm sure the transsexual community is waiting with baited breathe to see if I'm going to stop acting superior or an ass. The internet does this to me sometimes, for which I apologise.

I still hold, in my opinion, (which you can accept or reject at your leisure :) ), that the word, regardless of if it can be reclaimed or not, currently isn't reclaimed by all accounts. Let's just assume for the sake of this argument that it isn't, so you're going to have a fun time trying to translate a word which is mostly used in pornography into a context which isn't (see the difficulty below). As it happens, we have no idea exactly what the OP actually wanted to find out for, we will never know. Maybe it all worked out nicely.

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velvet_tipping August 31 2007, 20:59:03 UTC
muckefuck August 31 2007, 21:17:56 UTC
I'm pretty sure there's such a number and range of individuals in the world that I would never feel comfortable making a generalisation like that. 6.5 billion people in the world and you feel "pretty sure" not a single one of them would identify as "shemale"? What's your empirical basis for such an assertion?

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franzeska September 5 2007, 11:07:04 UTC
To my great shock, I just ran into such a person in real life.

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shemale September 8 2007, 18:45:25 UTC
oh hay

I know that you corrected yourself upthread, but I just wanted to confirm for you that I do, in fact, exist.

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velvet_tipping September 8 2007, 19:37:07 UTC

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