A while back, I wrote about the effects of the passive voice and agent deletion in media reporting of sexual violence, in Passive Aggression: Foregrounding the Object. An article in the UK Telegraph hit me between the eyes today: Four… Read More ›
language
use, misuse and cynical manipulation of language in common and specialist speech and writing
The useless bit of flesh around a vagina
[Image credit: Cincinnati Institute for Reproductive Health] I think every feminist has a least favourite term for “women”. And they’re all teeth-grindingly offensive in different ways: “girls”, “broads”, “chicks”, “babes”, “coeds”, “fillies”, “skirts”. Meredith Clark offers an article on the… Read More ›
What do disabled people, fat people, and indigenous languages have in common? They’re not disposable.
Read ‘Ems for today: Sunday Telegraph: Quadriplegic left on train Mark McCauley, a man with quadriplegia, was abandoned on a New South Wales CityRail train for four hours when the train lost power. The ambulatory passengers were all evacuated one… Read More ›
Feminism Friday: Reclamation: thoughts from a fat hairy uppity angry gimp bitch
This post started with me suggesting a FAQ on reclamation for the “Finally, a Feminism 101 Blog” blog: “But there’s a whole feminist magazine called Bitch and a book called The Ethical Slut, so why can’t I call you a… Read More ›
“Acting childish” – from Feministe
There’s a long and involved thread on Feministe right now about the much-bandied-about phrase “I hate children!” The guest blogger, Roy, wonders why open hate speech against children is perfectly ok, when it’s not generally acceptable against other group of… Read More ›
Google and the He/She Ratio
I’ve been tinkering with The He/ She Ratio on Google Blogoscoped. A site’s he/ she ratio is measured by counting the number of pages on the domain containing the word “he”, then searching for the number containing “she”, and then… Read More ›
“Moderate” language
Image Credit: Karen Wehrstein, Gliese 581c, uploaded by Phil Plait The picture has nothing to do with the subject of the post, it’s just v. cool (follow the link). Lindsay Bernstein, of Majikthise, has a post up talking of the… Read More ›
Passive Aggression: Foregrounding the Object
I’m a day late, but here I am Taking Back the Blog. Today’s rant: the passive voice. When it comes to reports of men abusing and oppressing women, the passive voice prevails. Women are discriminated against Women are paid less… Read More ›
The battle over language and abortion
Interesting editorial by one Erik Gable from a small-town newspaper in the States. Some time ago, I received a letter from a reader asking why The Daily Telegram used the phrase “pro-choice” to describe people who want to keep abortion… Read More ›
Hyphenating – who goes first?
So Brangelina’s baby has been born – Shiloh Nouvelle Jolie-Pitt. There is undoubtedly going to be a lot of sneering at the choice of personal names, but today I’m looking at the family name. Jolie and Pitt had already decided… Read More ›
Hoyden About Town 