On the Use of Language & Social Justice

[lucdarling]

So I have slowly been educating myself as each day passes, about the use of language and how I can be a better person. I usually watch the conversations around me happen [and on occasion, implode], but sometimes I take a more active role.

I reblogged the parodical poster and wrote a fandom letter on tumblr:

Comments

[girltype]

I agree very much with the first half of the post. The second, not so with the authors reply but more towards trigger warning. They are my biggest grief in fandom. Maybe I've lived a safe life or maybe I don't take fic so seriously (although I feel I do. I read, rec, rage/love over it so much!) where it can hurt me personally. Trigger warnings, 10 years ago there was no such thing.

[miniglik]

If you don't understand the need for trigger warnings you've lived a safe life indeed.

[amaresu]

*popping out of the woodwork

[lucdarling]

The argument could be made that the internet as we know it today didn't exist ten years ago. Or twenty. Time is irrelevant as far as qualifying anything simply because something has been around for x amount so it should be lessened in some regard.

If you feel no personal gain in having trigger warnings, then you have lived a safe and lucky life. Unfortunately, there are a number of people for one reason or another (myself included) who respectfully ask authors to use them, so that we may avoid the potential pitfalls lying in wait inside our own mind. That doesn't mean we are "special snowflakes" nor does it mean we can be patronized - it simply means that we are aware that the tool we use for escapism cannot be counted on to provide that without a little foresight.

[elebridith]

Re part one: Language is such a difficult thing... and it gets even worse when it's not your mother tongue. Words sometimes have different connections in different countrys, and that can be like poking a wasp nest.:-) But I suppose it's not an ESL problem here, right?

Part two: I don't see where the author gets the "bitching out" part in your comment - I think it was quite camly worded. And you are so right. I am a lucky person for not having triggers that cause really bad reactions, and I know that. But if stumbling unexpectedly over a horrifying animated spider gif causes me to be itchy and uncomfortable for hours, I can only imagine how terrible it must be for others.
Also, I appreciate those warnings - I might not get a panic attack or something, but some things I just don't want to read. I once cried for half an hour over a death!fic because it caught me at the wrong time of the month. So I appreciate a warning simply because I can avoid it.

If I got that reaction, I would do the same - stop reading that author. *nods*

[lucdarling]

No, it's certainly not an ESL problem. The word "quim" dates back to the 16th century. However, the modern day translation is "cunt" in American English; overseas it is slightly less derogatory. However, as the director is American (and expressly said in an interview he was MOST PROUD of getting the phrase in the film), I am disinclined to believe it was meant as anything other than c---.

Yeah, the author is extremely talented but talent doesn't necessarily equate a good person. I certainly appreciate trigger warnings though I am willing to concede the opposing viewpoint in certain areas.

[elebridith]

I had the un-pleasure of overhearing a family fight during my holiday on Mallorca. British family, as we found out later, and the about 16,17 year old son called his mother the c-word. I almost fell off my seat, but neither the mom nor the dad called the boy out on it. I would have washed his mouth with soap!

*sigh* If I get a ticket, I am going to watch the movie on Sunday. I will watch out how the german dubbing handles this. I can only think of one equivalent, and I doubt that they will use that...

[elebridith]

Okay, I saw it yesterday. Loki calls her "Weib" in the german dubbing. Which is far less worse than "quim". Originally it's just the old word for "woman" or "wife". If it's derogatory use now, completely depends on context. Loki clearly uses it loathingly in combination with "weak. But it's also used in combination with "super" or "classy" which is entirely positive. So, the translation had it tamed really good. It would be interesting to know if the person doing the translation knew the meaning of "quim"...

[amaresu]

I had not seen that picture and I'm slightly worried about asking which fandom it came from. Clearly not something I'm invested in if it's a recongnizable quote, but. And of course there are probably lots of people that realize it's misogynistic and just don't care. *sigh*

I love trigger warnings. As you can see in my comment to girltype. Yeah.

I wonder if anyone's made a script or something that'll block you from seeing certain authors on AO3? That would be neat. Because I'll frequently forget authors I don't want to read for various reasons until I waste time looking at their fics.

[lucdarling]

The line is said by the villain in The Avengers. and cleolinda wrote it up far better than I could here (and she gets more traffic than I.) But the point is that it's problematic and misogynistic and I loathe the word and that Whedon takes pride in its place in the script.

I love your response.

I haven't heard of any AO3 script but I would certainly love one. I could block certain pairings and warnings completely, let alone authors. At this point, the latter is a short list so I'll make do.

[amaresu]

Wow, I completely missed that. Of course I've only seen the movie once and that seems to be far less than most people. I'll look for it when I see the movie again. I shall read her post.

I would love to block certain pairings. It's not that I hate them, I just have no interest in them and they clog up the fandom page.

[havenward]

:sighs: People. I just. :sighs:

[anna_unfolding]

The thing I am coming to understand more fully (and this is after 4 years in fandom where I supported trigger warnings) is that asking for TW's is a way of people actually trying to be responsible for themselves and their reactions. People who have been injured in certain ways, or who struggle with certain things COULD ask all fanfic writers to stop writing about self-harm, or rape, or bullying, or underage sex, or physical violence. But they're (we're) not. We're not asking that people stop using those themes in the ways they want to. We are only really asking for a heads up so we can choose to keep ourselves safe now (after we weren't kept safe from the problem originally, at the hand/s of someone when we were younger).

I thought your wording to that author was fine, and I support you sharing your feelings and thoughts with authors.