At 18, I listened to Gloria Steinem speak in Central Park, telling so many of us to wake up and notice the labeling of 'he' and 'she' throughout our culture, as a limitation. A political decision. About power.
'He' serving to represent both sexes, purportedly.
I fell in love with a lefty who was studying Sexual Politics. I studied history and how 'they' was the operative pronoun, singular or plural, til the 7th century.
How pronoun use ensured education for males and not females .
How remediating pronouns back solely to 'He' in laws managed at one point in US history to disenfranchise all female doctors.
studiously used 'they' and 'them' raising my children.
Making note of gender, without cause, is akin to making note of RACE or CLASS or sexual orientation, among a few other things. Often, these delineations are simply not pertinent. And often serve as quiet ways of pointing out a person 'a race or sex or sexual orientation or height or age or ethnic origins.
I changed my children's books, 'he 'and 'she ' to they.
Those were the days, 35 years ago, when every female animal character in a kid's book had a BOW on their head ,to let you know their sex.
I was told pink gowns on my infants would 'Turn' the boys gay. 'Wow!' I'd reply. 'Its just like that, is it?!'
Language is powerful. Language is used for power. Language is not something organic, risen up,virgin birth.
I t's something that reflects culture, impacts culture, and with awareness, words utilized to control and harm and oppress can be taken back, as we fought to take back the night .
Words matter. Words impact us deeply.
As such, the gender awareness with regards to language taking place in the world is one more welcome small step toward accuracy and options for all.
No comments:
Post a Comment