smann@ihu1g.UUCP (Sherry Mann) (04/26/84)
Some points in answer to a recent submission from ted: You answered Ken: "The change in the language will come out of changes in attitude and following quiet example." Changes in attitude have been shown to come about by changes in behavior. What quiet example do you suggest people follow? I suggest they follow the quiet example of including women in their speech by changing some of the words they use when appropriate. You answered sam, "Language is the tool of repression? You mean that all of the oppression has been caused by the lack of certain words in our language?" Calling something a tool of something does not blame it for everything that happens regarding that something. First of all, tools are only tools, the person wielding those tools is responsible for how she uses it. I'm sure that no one and no group of people are going to cause all the repression that exists through the use of one tool, words, but this does not keep that one tool from being effective when used. I consider myself a feminist. Your definition of feminist does not fit me. I do not blame each and every male human being for all of the oppression and inequality suffered by female human beings. What does fit is that I am a person who believes that women have been and are oppressed and have been and do suffer inequalities, and I want to do what I can to change that situation. When you answer Sophie, "Maybe you are right that I feel threatened. If you were a member of a dominant group wouldn't you feel threatened if you felt that dominance being reduced?" - don't you think that maybe Sophie was trying to get you to look at that feeling of being threatened and to maybe realize that that was where your strong objections to the call for non-sexist language were coming from rather than continuing to object with knee-jerk reactions? In your entire article you fail to take into consideration that many women say they feel excluded by the use of what they consider to be sexist language. (When I say "feel" I don't mean "think" and I certainly don't mean "mistakenly think." I mean "FEEL" as in "I feel loved," "I feel comfortable," etc. In fact, this last point is the one that bothers me the most. On this subject, I hear a lot of statements that people are not "going to be forced" into using new language, "no one's going to tell me what to do", etc., when as far as I can tell, most women are saying "the use of these terms affects me in this way." These statements by women seem to be ignored in the debate, and are evidently the use of force that is being exerted. This was originally sent by mail to ted rather than being posted to the net as I had intended. It has been slightly edited since then, including the addition of the flaming in the previous paragraph. Sherry Mann ihu1g!smann