Stop using the word “looting!̶...

So this morning I decided to check in on What The MSM Is Up To, just out of morbid curiosity. At MSNBC I found this image. The implication is that Haitians are ungrateful, uncivilized thieves. Right now, this is the top story over there. “Looters roam Haiti streets as aid trickles in.” Is...

Bloggin’ is Awesome!...

Social networking sites like Facebook have provided, along with the chance to get back in touch with people you haven’t seen in 10 or 20 years, an entirely new realm of the baffling, weird, and offensive that in early days would have flown under our radars.  I’m filing this one under...

You keep using that word. I do not think...

When I imagine a selfish person, I picture someone who cheats, or steals, or behaves in some other way that benefits herself at the expense of others. So why, I wonder, is “selfish” so frequently used as a weapon against child-free women? Not procreating doesn’t hurt anyone, especially...

Don’t Call Me “Miss”: ...

Do any of y’all get irritated at being called “Miss?” I don’t mean on correspondence–these days pretty much everything comes addressed to “Ms. Sharper”, which is as it should be. I mean being called “Miss” by salespeople in stores, folks who approach...

“Humanist” is not a substitu...

I am distrustful of anyone who says they prefer the label “humanist” to “feminist.” You’ve heard the argument before. It’s an attempt to downplay oppression against women and avoid acknowledging male privilege. “Humanist” is taken. It has a definition. ...

Be A Bitch: And Talk Like One...

Dear Patriarchy: I will when you do. Months ago, I got taken to task by a commenter for cussing in a post. I wrote a response explaining how I felt about “obscene” language–in this case, she objected to my use of the f-word–and why I sometimes use it. That commenter said that...

“Radfem Hall Monitor”ism and...

I have been gone for awhile attending to the increasingly shamble-riffic state of my personal and professional lives, as subject for another post I suppose, but relevant to this one insofar that I have had a lot of Twisty to catch up on this weekend.  Er, or, I thought I did, until I got over there...

For the Record: The Meaning of Satire...

Since we started this blog, we’ve encountered a whole bunch of misogynist ish whose authors have dressed it up as “satire.” Be it the ill-advised “bikini bod” ads from Joe in New York or the hideous bit of hateration published by the Irish Times back in February, there seems...

Reaching First Base (In a Linguistic Kin...

where's the first baseperson? via delusionalcubsfan @ flickr I like to think that my dad’s a pretty cool dude, and occasionally he makes me smile by dropping little pearls of thought into my email inbox. Thus it was yesterday when one of our constant back-and-forth exchanges about baseball took...

Clean up your ___!...

I think wetlands are quite beautiful, actually. Via -Chad Johnson @ Flickr.Since we’ve been discussing blue language this weekend, I thought the English-language publication of Charlotte Roche’s scandalous German novel Wetlands was rather timely and deserving of a nod. I may not be the best...

Attention!...

Via Inkyhack @ Flickr. I have to get something off my chest or else I’ll pull out the little hair I have remaining. “Pro-choice” and “pro-life” are political terms. That means they are labels used to describe one’s position on abortion as a legal/political issue....

Language Matters...

I really love this comic from Principia Comica. (click on image to enlarge) Why do people use the word “rape” to describe annoyances or hardships that don’t come close to being like rape? I bet much of the appeal, for such people, is the shock value of using a word for sexual assault...