I made a flocked post about this yesterday, when I was still at the spitting-with-rage point, but I've calmed down and I still think this is important enough to say publicly, so
( Read more... )
I don't, I just, my mind fails to function on these things. I stare at them, and I try to comprehend, but, for serious, what? How?
If someone saw a person beating someone of an ethnic minority, while calling them racial slurs, they wouldn't call it anything but an act of racism.
But if that same person saw a woman getting beaten while being called a 'bitch' or a 'cunt' or a 'whore' -- well, that's just regular ol' violence!
*headdesk*
There are so many times in my life where I see something that offends me, as a woman, but if I dare bring it up I'm told I'm 'too sensitive'. It drives me crazy that misogyny, sexism, is so subversive, such a powerful part of our culture, and yet it is rarely recognized as such.
It's been awhile since something online has made me this angry. Run-of-the-mill misogyny I expect. Dismissing misogyny while decrying racism and homophobia I expect (though god, I wish I didn't have to). But neatly typifying both, to the point of rather viciously attacking someone for having issues with a misogynistic insult, on a post supposedly complaining about misogyny is really a whole new level of special.
Well, DUH. Those are merely ill-mannered insults with no history of prejudice behind them that no one with half a brain could possibly take offense to!
There was only so much of that discussion I could read. I'm not a fan of incivility. But that one commenter really has mastered the fine art of hypocrisy, asking others to consider that what they felt was an innocuous use of language was actually quite offensive to others, to remember that they are other perspective than one's own and those other perspectives are equally as valid, and then refusing to do that same work herself, adamantly insisting that because she doesn't find the word "cunt" insulting as a woman that it's just not, period. But then, I suppose it's not all that surprising. It's always easier to wag a finger at others than to take a good, hard look at your own attitudes and behaviors.
Where in the UK are you? Because a bunch of people in the UK (and Oz/NZ) have said it's a not-particularly-vile general-purpose insult -- at various times -- and others have begged to differ. My impression is that it's more of an insult in Scotland, but I'm not sure.
And I've had more than one informant tell me it's not a particularly bad insult in Tennessee & Kentucky (approximately), which is boggling to me but I take their word for it.
No, no. sadface is a shining beacon of tolerance in a bleak and prejudiced world! It's those stupid women who don't realize that they have no right to object to misogyny and won't just sit down and shut up who are the problem.
Bunny pointed it out to me last night, and I was like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
What I don't get is the idea that "cunt" is being left for the misogynists if she doesn't get to use it as an insult. Like, OK, the word is associated with a woman's body and it's considered the *worst* insult out there without getting into people's race and ethnicity, and she doesn't get why that is problematic? And it's not like the word can never be used by a woman in a way that isn't, oh, I don't know, terribly insulting.
Hell, I don't think I'd be pissed if it wasn't SO DAMN FUNNY IN A NON-HAHAHA way that she has a problem with "squirrel" because its racist connotations (I didn't know, but I learned something new), which I am totally willing to consider, but then she completely disregards and insults people who have issues with her word choice.
And it's not like the word can never be used by a woman in a way that isn't, oh, I don't know, terribly insulting.
Exactly. "Taking back" a word or phrase is about redefining it so it is no longer a pejorative, not continuing to use it in exactly the same insulting way.
And yeah, it's the whole context that makes this so infuriating. A random post about this would just provoke a "Wow, you kind of fail" response, but claiming that it's perfectly acceptable to be outraged about other stereotypical insults as long as they're not about women, and doing it on a post decrying misogyny is just unbelievable.
Comments 34
Blood: boils!
I don't, I just, my mind fails to function on these things. I stare at them, and I try to comprehend, but, for serious, what? How?
If someone saw a person beating someone of an ethnic minority, while calling them racial slurs, they wouldn't call it anything but an act of racism.
But if that same person saw a woman getting beaten while being called a 'bitch' or a 'cunt' or a 'whore' -- well, that's just regular ol' violence!
*headdesk*
There are so many times in my life where I see something that offends me, as a woman, but if I dare bring it up I'm told I'm 'too sensitive'. It drives me crazy that misogyny, sexism, is so subversive, such a powerful part of our culture, and yet it is rarely recognized as such.
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Reply
Reply
Reply
And I've had more than one informant tell me it's not a particularly bad insult in Tennessee & Kentucky (approximately), which is boggling to me but I take their word for it.
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Reply
What I don't get is the idea that "cunt" is being left for the misogynists if she doesn't get to use it as an insult. Like, OK, the word is associated with a woman's body and it's considered the *worst* insult out there without getting into people's race and ethnicity, and she doesn't get why that is problematic? And it's not like the word can never be used by a woman in a way that isn't, oh, I don't know, terribly insulting.
Hell, I don't think I'd be pissed if it wasn't SO DAMN FUNNY IN A NON-HAHAHA way that she has a problem with "squirrel" because its racist connotations (I didn't know, but I learned something new), which I am totally willing to consider, but then she completely disregards and insults people who have issues with her word choice.
That right there? Class.
Reply
Exactly. "Taking back" a word or phrase is about redefining it so it is no longer a pejorative, not continuing to use it in exactly the same insulting way.
And yeah, it's the whole context that makes this so infuriating. A random post about this would just provoke a "Wow, you kind of fail" response, but claiming that it's perfectly acceptable to be outraged about other stereotypical insults as long as they're not about women, and doing it on a post decrying misogyny is just unbelievable.
Reply
Leave a comment