On Language (Trigger Warning!)
On Language
Written by Paul Lampe & John Doe
Disclaimer: You now have about thirty seconds to get up and leave if harsh language offends you. We will curse. A lot. So if you have kids or your stomach can’t take some swear words, feel free to leave now. We’re not going to throw around offensive words because we like to. We’re going to throw them around in order to address the world we live in. This will be educational. I promise.
That’s so gay. Dude, you are such a queen. Fag. Faggot. She’s a cunt-bitch-dyke.
Words. Just words. They’re only words. They don’t mean anything. Do they? Nah. Just words. They don’t mean anything. They’re just everything. They’re just the way we understand and see and create the world. They have no power. Just the power we give them. That’s all. They’re only, you know, the only way we have of attributing meaning or value to a concept, to an idea, to an object, to a person.
Like, the way our relationships are labeled, the way we label them, and the way others label them:
Fem
Butch
The “Man” or the “Woman” in the Relationship
Deviant
Unnatural
We are forced to choose between the two. There isn’t any gray area, at least not as far as language is concerned. We believe it because we have been taught to believe it. We have their binary, gay or straight, fem or butch, top or bottom. Those are the only choices this language gives us. A prime example of this is the disavowal of our bisexual brethren and sisters. We use these words. People outside of us use these words. These words. These words are nothing less than the destruction of our ability to see our own inherent bisexual nature.
Switch-Hitter
Confused
Unsure
Or, the way they, and we, talk about or gender benders, our gender queers, our gender fucks, our transgendered siblings. The way we force them into small, small categories, created by porn and capitalism, and any way we can make money off of them or understand them without having to understand them:
Tranny-Saurus-Rex
Trannie
Chicks with Dicks
To think they can buy and sell my ass for the luxury of a cashmere scarf or a “lesbian friendly, lesbian produced” eighty thousand dollar Jeep. Please, how much silver have they laced your palm with to sell us out?
Women. Why is it so damn taboo to be a woman? To be effeminate? To be a masculine woman? Why are women who love women sexualized and just sexualized? Why can’t women be treated as humans for more than one effing minute!!!!!! Women. The backbone of our culture, the forerunners, the badasses. Strong, powerful, amazing, and this is what we’re reduced to:
Dykes
Diesel dykes
Lezzies
Lesbos
Cunts
Rug Munchers
Carpet Munchers
Granola Lesbians
Bull Daggers
Feminazi Manhating Lesbians
Because being a feminist is bad. It’s the new F-Word. Because being a woman is bad. It’s the old F-Word. Because our culture still reduces us to sex, to vaginas, and that’s all. Because, ladies, we’re either butch or fem, bitches or debutantes, virgins or whores. But our brothers in this fight believe in us as their sisters and peers in this queer revolution. They believe in us as we believe in them, the:
Fairies
Homos
Agfays
Pussies
Girly Boys
Bitches
Queers
Fags
Faggots
Flamers
Sodomites
Queens
Pansies
Queenies
Pretty Boys
Girls
Twinkle Toes
Poofters
(And God damn if I hear one more time I will cut someone!) Twink!!!!
Because if the women in our community are reduced to nothing but sex, are reduced to being untouchable, the men even more so. They are hated. Not because they are men, or even because they are gay, but because to be gay is to be feminized. Because gay is correlated with women. And if being a woman is so, so devalued in our culture, then being a man and living a feminized life is the ultimate in rebellion. And they are put into their place in this society through these words. They’re not only hated, but these words are used often, and violently, and unknowingly. Take, for instance, faggot. Word for a gay man? Or more? More. Faggot originally meant a bundle of sticks, one meant to be burned. He is a faggot. He is meant to be burned. He is a flaming faggot. He is something to be burned and he is already burning. He is as good as dead. He deserves to be dead. These are the words we don’t even blink an eye at anymore.
For hating us, for not wanting to talk about us, they’re all obsessed with us. Particularly with what we do in bed. They talk about it all the time. The words are everywhere. None of them are nice, none of them sum up what our sex actually is, and no one even blinks an eye.
Knob Gobbler
Scissor Sister
Cumdumpster
Cocksucker
Ass Bandit
Tit Gobbler
Ass Pirate
Anal Assassin
Butt Buddies
Pigbottom
Muff Diver
Ass Jockey
Fudge-Packer
Slut
Whore
Ho
Pillow Biter
Because we are reduced to language. To words. To simple syllables to sum up everything we are. Faggot. Dyke. Bitch. Queer. We are not people. We are words. We are insults wielded against straight men by straight men, because to be gay, which is to be a woman is the ultimate in insults. All of it, patriarchy, all of it, fear of women and vaginas and the feminine. Words turned into patriarchal weapons used to dehumanize and attack everyone who isn’t masculine. Words used to make people less than a man, less than a woman, less than good enough. Patriarchal words used to put people in their place. Which is, of course, subordinate.
I’d like to take a moment for the effeminate straight man. I would like to take a moment for the masculine straight woman. I would like to take a moment for the gender bending queer revolutionaries. I would like to take a moment to honor all of these. To honor all people as people. I would like to take a moment to question why.
I say, revolution! I say use words like tools to dismantle the house of the patriarchy. Fuck shit up! Challenge the patriarchy! Find new and exciting and less-boring ways to live! Did I tell you I love your boyfriend’s limp wrist? No way! Awesome! I love your boyfriend’s emotional availability…and willingness to talk about things that matter to him. Dude, I love her girlfriend’s biceps, she looks like she could crush bricks with her bare hands… and her heels are so in right now! Oh, and you know that guy we ran into before the show? He’s easily gained forty pounds and has never looked better. She’s into feminism, fashion, and fucking shit up…uber-hot. All of it hot. So, so hot.
And every time someone says that some ugly-ass sweater is so gay, or some test is so gay, or that guy’s car is so fucking gay, every time they say that is a full frontal assault against us and everyone we love and know and everything that we are. Everything. We are insults wielded to hurt and to emasculate. Our very existence has been turned into a weapon. No wonder they hate us. We are common place vernacular for bad, for ugly, for weak, for gross, for subhuman, for less than.
We are afraid to walk the streets alone at night, to enter rooms without backup, for fear of running into these words. We will never be able to take back the night or the streets or our lives or our futures if we cannot first take back our very language. We must reclaim these words. We must make them weapons wielded by us rather than against us.
I feel inept. My words are falling short and my label is non-existent. Gay…Lesbian…hmmm, to be expected to be anorexic? To be an alcoholic? To spend money I don’t have on shit I don’t need? To be promiscuous? Or for that matter not allowed to be promiscuous without that, my sexual activity being called into question? What am I to be if “gay” is your weapon. What am I to be when I become your stereotype? And when can I be these stereotypes without fear or the actualization that these decisions were my own choice! What am I to be…
I say queer! Because that word is my word, it is your word, it is our word. It is all of these words and then some. It represents all that is not good in our culture, all of the concepts we are not supposed to be, and I take all of those words back. All of them. They are mine. And you can’t use them unless you are them. And the next time I hear some dude say that something is so gay, I am going to assume he’s saying it because it is his word, and he is allowed to use it. And you can tell all of your friends that.
Take back your words. Because they are just that. Yours. Word. Peace out!
Written by Paul Lampe & John Doe
Disclaimer: You now have about thirty seconds to get up and leave if harsh language offends you. We will curse. A lot. So if you have kids or your stomach can’t take some swear words, feel free to leave now. We’re not going to throw around offensive words because we like to. We’re going to throw them around in order to address the world we live in. This will be educational. I promise.
That’s so gay. Dude, you are such a queen. Fag. Faggot. She’s a cunt-bitch-dyke.
Words. Just words. They’re only words. They don’t mean anything. Do they? Nah. Just words. They don’t mean anything. They’re just everything. They’re just the way we understand and see and create the world. They have no power. Just the power we give them. That’s all. They’re only, you know, the only way we have of attributing meaning or value to a concept, to an idea, to an object, to a person.
Like, the way our relationships are labeled, the way we label them, and the way others label them:
Fem
Butch
The “Man” or the “Woman” in the Relationship
Deviant
Unnatural
We are forced to choose between the two. There isn’t any gray area, at least not as far as language is concerned. We believe it because we have been taught to believe it. We have their binary, gay or straight, fem or butch, top or bottom. Those are the only choices this language gives us. A prime example of this is the disavowal of our bisexual brethren and sisters. We use these words. People outside of us use these words. These words. These words are nothing less than the destruction of our ability to see our own inherent bisexual nature.
Switch-Hitter
Confused
Unsure
Or, the way they, and we, talk about or gender benders, our gender queers, our gender fucks, our transgendered siblings. The way we force them into small, small categories, created by porn and capitalism, and any way we can make money off of them or understand them without having to understand them:
Tranny-Saurus-Rex
Trannie
Chicks with Dicks
To think they can buy and sell my ass for the luxury of a cashmere scarf or a “lesbian friendly, lesbian produced” eighty thousand dollar Jeep. Please, how much silver have they laced your palm with to sell us out?
Women. Why is it so damn taboo to be a woman? To be effeminate? To be a masculine woman? Why are women who love women sexualized and just sexualized? Why can’t women be treated as humans for more than one effing minute!!!!!! Women. The backbone of our culture, the forerunners, the badasses. Strong, powerful, amazing, and this is what we’re reduced to:
Dykes
Diesel dykes
Lezzies
Lesbos
Cunts
Rug Munchers
Carpet Munchers
Granola Lesbians
Bull Daggers
Feminazi Manhating Lesbians
Because being a feminist is bad. It’s the new F-Word. Because being a woman is bad. It’s the old F-Word. Because our culture still reduces us to sex, to vaginas, and that’s all. Because, ladies, we’re either butch or fem, bitches or debutantes, virgins or whores. But our brothers in this fight believe in us as their sisters and peers in this queer revolution. They believe in us as we believe in them, the:
Fairies
Homos
Agfays
Pussies
Girly Boys
Bitches
Queers
Fags
Faggots
Flamers
Sodomites
Queens
Pansies
Queenies
Pretty Boys
Girls
Twinkle Toes
Poofters
(And God damn if I hear one more time I will cut someone!) Twink!!!!
Because if the women in our community are reduced to nothing but sex, are reduced to being untouchable, the men even more so. They are hated. Not because they are men, or even because they are gay, but because to be gay is to be feminized. Because gay is correlated with women. And if being a woman is so, so devalued in our culture, then being a man and living a feminized life is the ultimate in rebellion. And they are put into their place in this society through these words. They’re not only hated, but these words are used often, and violently, and unknowingly. Take, for instance, faggot. Word for a gay man? Or more? More. Faggot originally meant a bundle of sticks, one meant to be burned. He is a faggot. He is meant to be burned. He is a flaming faggot. He is something to be burned and he is already burning. He is as good as dead. He deserves to be dead. These are the words we don’t even blink an eye at anymore.
For hating us, for not wanting to talk about us, they’re all obsessed with us. Particularly with what we do in bed. They talk about it all the time. The words are everywhere. None of them are nice, none of them sum up what our sex actually is, and no one even blinks an eye.
Knob Gobbler
Scissor Sister
Cumdumpster
Cocksucker
Ass Bandit
Tit Gobbler
Ass Pirate
Anal Assassin
Butt Buddies
Pigbottom
Muff Diver
Ass Jockey
Fudge-Packer
Slut
Whore
Ho
Pillow Biter
Because we are reduced to language. To words. To simple syllables to sum up everything we are. Faggot. Dyke. Bitch. Queer. We are not people. We are words. We are insults wielded against straight men by straight men, because to be gay, which is to be a woman is the ultimate in insults. All of it, patriarchy, all of it, fear of women and vaginas and the feminine. Words turned into patriarchal weapons used to dehumanize and attack everyone who isn’t masculine. Words used to make people less than a man, less than a woman, less than good enough. Patriarchal words used to put people in their place. Which is, of course, subordinate.
I’d like to take a moment for the effeminate straight man. I would like to take a moment for the masculine straight woman. I would like to take a moment for the gender bending queer revolutionaries. I would like to take a moment to honor all of these. To honor all people as people. I would like to take a moment to question why.
I say, revolution! I say use words like tools to dismantle the house of the patriarchy. Fuck shit up! Challenge the patriarchy! Find new and exciting and less-boring ways to live! Did I tell you I love your boyfriend’s limp wrist? No way! Awesome! I love your boyfriend’s emotional availability…and willingness to talk about things that matter to him. Dude, I love her girlfriend’s biceps, she looks like she could crush bricks with her bare hands… and her heels are so in right now! Oh, and you know that guy we ran into before the show? He’s easily gained forty pounds and has never looked better. She’s into feminism, fashion, and fucking shit up…uber-hot. All of it hot. So, so hot.
And every time someone says that some ugly-ass sweater is so gay, or some test is so gay, or that guy’s car is so fucking gay, every time they say that is a full frontal assault against us and everyone we love and know and everything that we are. Everything. We are insults wielded to hurt and to emasculate. Our very existence has been turned into a weapon. No wonder they hate us. We are common place vernacular for bad, for ugly, for weak, for gross, for subhuman, for less than.
We are afraid to walk the streets alone at night, to enter rooms without backup, for fear of running into these words. We will never be able to take back the night or the streets or our lives or our futures if we cannot first take back our very language. We must reclaim these words. We must make them weapons wielded by us rather than against us.
I feel inept. My words are falling short and my label is non-existent. Gay…Lesbian…hmmm, to be expected to be anorexic? To be an alcoholic? To spend money I don’t have on shit I don’t need? To be promiscuous? Or for that matter not allowed to be promiscuous without that, my sexual activity being called into question? What am I to be if “gay” is your weapon. What am I to be when I become your stereotype? And when can I be these stereotypes without fear or the actualization that these decisions were my own choice! What am I to be…
I say queer! Because that word is my word, it is your word, it is our word. It is all of these words and then some. It represents all that is not good in our culture, all of the concepts we are not supposed to be, and I take all of those words back. All of them. They are mine. And you can’t use them unless you are them. And the next time I hear some dude say that something is so gay, I am going to assume he’s saying it because it is his word, and he is allowed to use it. And you can tell all of your friends that.
Take back your words. Because they are just that. Yours. Word. Peace out!