Added: 05/15/2007 |
In Feminism, Language Is Key To Gaining EqualityLanguage shapes our perceptions of how we look at the world. As language is a living thing made by living things, it needs to evolve to best serve those who use it. Original meanings to words and phrases can get turned into insults centuries later. These words can be used to subliminally spread prejudice. To those supporting feminism, language is the key to gaining equal rights for women.
In many of today’s organized religions, God is represented as male, and “made Man in His own image”, as Genesis says. This infers the notion that man is superior to women, as they are somehow a strange mutation of God’s true and perfect image. This notion has carried on into other aspects of language. For thousands of years, the entire human race has been referred to as “mankind” or “man.” In feminism, language like this leaves a none-to-subtle subliminal suggestion that women are supposed to be excluded.
Since the 1970’s, a special effort has been made in the publishing and entertainment industries to include feminine words into the text and dialogue that will be read or listened to by thousands. The change has been subtle, but noticeable. In the late 1960’s, the infamous opening of Star Trek ended with the words “…where no man has gone before.” In the 1980’s, starting with the second Star Trek movie and continuing on through the various movies and spin-off television shows ever since, the ending is now always, “…where no one has gone before.” Of course, in science fiction, there are more than two sexes, so it’s just easier to include all the sexes of the fictional universe with one word to make all of them equal in importance. Who knows – we might meet another alien sex some day that needs rights and will get them because we are already used to watching Star Trek!
Other influences of feminism language come in how-to books or magazines. In the early 1990’s, the North American magazine Horse Illustrated was barraged with letters from their readers (who were mostly female) complaining that the article writers referred to horses and their riders always as “he” or “him”. They were not the only publication to get such complaints. Editors of magazines and books now have to either include “he or she” or “s/he” or explain that they are using only the masculine pronoun for the sake of convenience. A book on dog care that I read in 2004 had a clever solution – every other chapter, they switched pronouns, so “he” and “she” got equal reading time.
Sometimes in feminism, language changes can get not only silly but complicated. For example, Chairman has been changed in business to “the Chair” or “Chairperson”. “Postman” or “mailman” has now been changed to “mail carrier” or “postal carrier”. But some feminists insist on dropping the word “man” altogether for objects that aren’t actually men. “Snowman” would then be “snowperson”. “Manhole cover” would be “personhole cover”. To most in feminism, language changes should occur subtly, not to just substitute the female pronoun over the masculine and therefore do a kind of reverse sexual discrimination.
Since language is a living thing used by humans (man and woman kind), there is always going to be some arguments about how best to use it. But the changes in our word choices have pressed themselves on the future.
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