Okay so by now you all must know that I am a complete freak about words. I love them. I love finding out where they came from, what they mean, and why they have certain associations. Honestly, if etymology was a thing at this university, I'd be all over that shit.
So when the great Joss Whedon decided to get up and talk about the word feminist I was basically beside myself with joy. First of all, I love words, and I love Joss Whedon. It was a natural combination.
Mostly, I thought it was interesting that he sat down and thought about the word "feminist." Especially how and why people shy away from it (the Katy Perry reference was great, especially considering her latest song, Roar). What about the structure of our words plays a role in their connotations? Specifically he focuses on "ist"- especially how "ist" assumes some sort of conscious choice to be involved in an "agenda" (like feminism). Joss Whedon suggests that we create a word that is more in line with exclusion. Everybody should be born with the "radical" notion that women are people and deserve to be treated equally. That should be something we understand the first second we open our eyes, take our first steps, say our first words (and its society's job to make sure that we understand that). When people think that woman are less than what they are, they deviate from a truth that should be unquestionable.
Whedon uses the example of racism, especially the term "racist." When you are a racist, you discriminate against people based on their race. To parallel, the word "feminist" seems like it would be the same, that a feminist discriminates against women. Whedon suggests we use the term "genderist" instead. That a genderist would be a person who discriminates against a person based on their gender.
What do you guys think? I'm not sure it's an original idea, but I think it's a interesting one! Definitely a fresh look on how language forms our opinions.
Here's a video and copy of his speech:
http://jezebel.com/watch-joss-whedon-make-the-perfect-speech-about-the-wor-1460080685
Wow, I've never really thought of it like that. Putting the word feminist in perspective with the word racist does make me think a little more and is easily seen how negativity can be couple together with it. But it is important that we as people don't shy away from the things that we don't but yet explore it and learn something new.
ReplyDeleteJoss whedon is a fantastic human being
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