01.13.05
Posted in culture at 1:25 pm by
I promised to write about those words I DO consider to be foul and try not to use around here yesterday. However, at 5:15 Jen’s cell phone rang. That phone call (the one that comes at 5:15 AM) is in our house a happy sound. It means that Jen doesn’t have school. When Jen doesn’t have school and I don’t have to drive to East Lansing, we spend the day together. That was priority number one yesterday.
But, I still think that it’s important to approach this topic that I brought up on Tuesday. If I think that words like ‘fuck, shit, damn,’ etc, are appropriate and there’s nothing wrong with them, is there anything that I do believe to be off-limits. My answer to that is, ‘yes.’
It’s hard for me to list all of these words. I learn new inappropriate words every day. Well, to be more accurate I learn about the inappropriateness of words every day. It’s hard to list them all because, to be honest, I’m ignorant about what each of these words is. Up till about 2 years ago I wouldn’t have thought twice about using a word like ’sissy’ or ‘wuss.’ Now, there are plenty of folks who know the etymology of these words far better than I, but here’s my explanation of why I think they’re inappropriate.
I find that these words (s***y, or w***) to be inappropriate because they derogate women and homosexuals. Quite often, these words refer to a person whom the user of these words is trying to berate. The mechanism that the user utilizes here is to compare a person to one not popularly deemed to be powerful. In this case, those words that are ‘not powerful’ are those words that are ‘minus-male’ words. Essentially, the implication is that men are the perfect picture of power, wisdom, etc, everyone who doesn’t measure up to this male standard is less than male. These words set men up as the model of perfection. It is the pinnacle of misogyny to make this assertion.
The reason that I say that it’s difficult for me to establish a list of these types of words, is because for so long I’ve grown up in a culture that tells me that it’s okay to use words like s***y, w***, (or words aimed at derogating homosexuals as minus-males such as homo, fag…and actually, it’s quite probable that ’s***y’, etc would fall into this category as well.
This cross-section of words I find particularly offensive–even the term bitch (which has been a hard habit to break) implies derogation on a woman by comparing her to a female canine. To me, it seems fucking stupid to say that exclaimations such as fuck, shit, or dammit, should have garnered such a negative cultural reputation while other words like fairy, w***, s***y, or even f*g (a word that is even championed by some wing-nut religious groups) should get off without negative connotation.
From a Christian perspective, if every person is an image bearer of God, our concerns should not be with explitives that merely describe at best shock and awe and at worst private bodily functions, our concern should be with those words that create an unjust reality for those image bearers to inhabit.
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Posted in culture at 1:25 pm by
I promised to write about those words I DO consider to be foul and try not to use around here yesterday. However, at 5:15 Jen’s cell phone rang. That phone call (the one that comes at 5:15 AM) is in our house a happy sound. It means that Jen doesn’t have school. When Jen doesn’t have school and I don’t have to drive to East Lansing, we spend the day together. That was priority number one yesterday.
But, I still think that it’s important to approach this topic that I brought up on Tuesday. If I think that words like ‘fuck, shit, damn,’ etc, are appropriate and there’s nothing wrong with them, is there anything that I do believe to be off-limits. My answer to that is, ‘yes.’
It’s hard for me to list all of these words. I learn new inappropriate words every day. Well, to be more accurate I learn about the inappropriateness of words every day. It’s hard to list them all because, to be honest, I’m ignorant about what each of these words is. Up till about 2 years ago I wouldn’t have thought twice about using a word like ’sissy’ or ‘wuss.’ Now, there are plenty of folks who know the etymology of these words far better than I, but here’s my explanation of why I think they’re inappropriate.
I find that these words (s***y, or w***) to be inappropriate because they derogate women and homosexuals. Quite often, these words refer to a person whom the user of these words is trying to berate. The mechanism that the user utilizes here is to compare a person to one not popularly deemed to be powerful. In this case, those words that are ‘not powerful’ are those words that are ‘minus-male’ words. Essentially, the implication is that men are the perfect picture of power, wisdom, etc, everyone who doesn’t measure up to this male standard is less than male. These words set men up as the model of perfection. It is the pinnacle of misogyny to make this assertion.
The reason that I say that it’s difficult for me to establish a list of these types of words, is because for so long I’ve grown up in a culture that tells me that it’s okay to use words like s***y, w***, (or words aimed at derogating homosexuals as minus-males such as homo, fag…and actually, it’s quite probable that ’s***y’, etc would fall into this category as well.
This cross-section of words I find particularly offensive–even the term bitch (which has been a hard habit to break) implies derogation on a woman by comparing her to a female canine. To me, it seems fucking stupid to say that exclaimations such as fuck, shit, or dammit, should have garnered such a negative cultural reputation while other words like fairy, w***, s***y, or even f*g (a word that is even championed by some wing-nut religious groups) should get off without negative connotation.
From a Christian perspective, if every person is an image bearer of God, our concerns should not be with explitives that merely describe at best shock and awe and at worst private bodily functions, our concern should be with those words that create an unjust reality for those image bearers to inhabit.
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A f*g in Virginia said,
January 13, 2005 at 4:41 pm
Thanks, badchristian… that’s refreshing to hear. I’m a big fan of yours. You rock my bookmark list.
Dave Rattigan said,
January 13, 2005 at 5:55 pm
This is so true. What really pisses me off is when Christians use Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:34 (”For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks”) to forbid others using words like “fuck” and “shit”, all the time totally blind to the kind of language that really defiles — hateful, spiteful words like “fag” and “slut” and all the rhetoric of bigotry.
J.R. said,
January 13, 2005 at 7:17 pm
I am personaly a big fan of “bastard”.
I agree with BC.
Kristen M said,
January 13, 2005 at 10:37 pm
Micah read this and said, “Hurry, go read Brandon’s latest blog. You’re gonna love it.” Frankly, I am so impressed that you noticed what you did about those terms implying male perfection- since you are a heterosexual male. Bravo, Brandon. Thanks for making men everywhere look a little better, a little smarter, a little more thoughtful.
*Christopher said,
January 14, 2005 at 5:26 am
Brandon, thank you. Great insights. I like your use of “minus-male” as the implication in these words. Male of course seems to imply aggressive, muscled, interested in cars and gadgets, getting laid, and generally abusive of others. Sadly this thinking not only hurts women and homosexuals, it hurts heterosexual men. Men are varied, regardless of sexual/affectional orientation, in their interests, gifts, bearing, et cetera, and such thinking harnesses all men into a uniform aggressive image displayed in military and sport ads. I’m a geek who reads voraciously, likes to work out at the gym, who would generally be considered somewhat quiet and introverted, and who happens to be gay. Overall a “minus-male”. Yet, I’ve known straight men who are similar in their interests and bearing to myself, and I’ve known gay men who are extroverted plumbers or mechanics…etc. Personally being a true man for myself means being compassionate but firm, gentle with my partner in communication, willing to risk for the justice of others,…
jpe said,
January 14, 2005 at 12:38 pm
Ya hit it on the money.
Adam said,
January 17, 2005 at 8:11 pm
Is it okay if I still call my dog a whore? This would seem to be one of the derogatory words but my dog really is an affection-whore. His only loyalty lies with the person that will pet him when he wants it.
Brandon said,
January 20, 2005 at 4:48 pm
Thanks, all!
Lara said,
April 18, 2005 at 5:00 pm
I thought you, in particular, might appreciate the exchange I had with a “christian” man last night. I’ve posted about it here.
It’s certainly someone with an interesting idea of what profanity is.