![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Language: Our, Us, Them
Jan. 22nd, 2013 07:31 pmThanks to those of you who took the poll and/or left comments! I ended up going with green tone outfit and no hat. Well, I wore a stocking cap because it was a whopping -1 F (-18 C) when I left the house. I had time to comb my hair a bit before the interview. Anyways, the interview went fine.
I watched most of the inauguration the other day. I quite liked it but here is a rhetorical thing that some people have pointed out on Twitter:
Regarding fair pay for women: "Our wives, mothers, and daughters..." This excludes women, making men the rhetorical "we", and also reduces them to roles in relation to men.
Response from Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) on Twitter: "As an experiment, I'm going to start referring to men as "our husbands, fathers and sons." Just to see if anyone finds that a little weird."
Regarding LGBT rights: "Our gay brothers and sisters": Similarly, this excludes gay people by making straight people the "we/our". It also excludes people who are queer but do not ID as gay.
Obviously I'm very happy the president is acknowledging these issues. But here is another way to phrase it which I learned from WisCon activists:
"Those of us who who are gay..." "Those of us who unfairly receive less pay due to the simple fact of being women in society..."
Very. Simple.
I watched most of the inauguration the other day. I quite liked it but here is a rhetorical thing that some people have pointed out on Twitter:
Regarding fair pay for women: "Our wives, mothers, and daughters..." This excludes women, making men the rhetorical "we", and also reduces them to roles in relation to men.
Response from Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) on Twitter: "As an experiment, I'm going to start referring to men as "our husbands, fathers and sons." Just to see if anyone finds that a little weird."
Regarding LGBT rights: "Our gay brothers and sisters": Similarly, this excludes gay people by making straight people the "we/our". It also excludes people who are queer but do not ID as gay.
Obviously I'm very happy the president is acknowledging these issues. But here is another way to phrase it which I learned from WisCon activists:
"Those of us who who are gay..." "Those of us who unfairly receive less pay due to the simple fact of being women in society..."
Very. Simple.
