uppityginger

[uppityginger]

*deep breath* Ok. So. The origins of these words are certainly worth knowing HOWEVER the idea that linguistic evolution happens in some sort of vacuum outside society and culture is utterly bizarre. Obviously the language is influenced by patriarchy because language is culture. Furthermore, the idea of singular origins for the current forms of words is simply inaccurate. Much of this interpretation of the history of language is just that: interpretation. The etymologies of these terms are complicated and intertwined. You'll find linguists attribute the term "man" to a number of root languages and terms (Hebrew: Adam; Greek: Anthropos; etc.) that always had the meaning of both male individual and all humans, even when you had other specific prefixes or terms for man and woman (like wer and wif/wo). The societal perception of s/he, wo/man, fe/male is also *how those things came to be codified in current form,* regardless of their origins. If you've got words referring to opposites evolving from different forms to be more similar, that's not a coincidence, that is language becoming more efficient and easy to understand. This is why any women's studies 101 student can see that the words seem obviously connected. They are, they evolved together. On top of which, the claim of specialized knowledge in linguistics is a bit of a smokescreen. Language is something where the perception of the speakers is the thing itself. Scholastic understanding of the etymological *origin* of terms has very little to do with how language is used *currently* to reflect power dynamics in society. It is not irrelevant that one can drop wer and not wo. It is not irrelevant that the simpler form without a faux prefix always means male and/or everyone. The idea that someone is a linguist and believes all linguistic change is "coincidence" and also believes anyone claiming there are cultural reasons behind those changes is buying into "conspiracies" is laughable. That someone can use the neologism “misandrist” in a post claiming linguistic change has not been driven by sexism would be more laughable if people didn't buy it.

That said, I totally don’t get where the person/son thing is coming from.

»swofehuper« by richard tipping (+)

[via]

[uppityginger]

Recent Artwork: Beauty, Aurora, and Melisandre

Recent Artwork: Beauty, Aurora, and Melisandre

Aurora

(more…)

[uppityginger]

Humanizing Women for Men

AKA starting from the assumption that no one will recognize women as human and therefore sharing their experiences through the eyes of men is the only way to get anyone to care.

AKA would you treat your sister or your mother that way. AKA manmanizing - where humanize means turn into a man.

AKA Watch these dudes have emotions because they didn’t know women got harassed so bad on the internet! Wow, sad dudes must mean it’s a Real Problem (TM).

A story.

Sheila: Men tend to ignore what women say, often because they think women are overly emotional. Bruce: What Sheila? I couldn't hear you over your hysterics! What are you accusing me of? Sheila: I literally just said that in my normal tone of voice. It's not even about-- Jim: I think what Sheila is trying to say is that men tend to ignore what women say. I find it upsetting :( Bruce: Oh, yeah, I can see how that would be upsetting and now that you mention it, I think I've seen that happen. Sheila: You mean like literally just now right? Bruce: I'm sorry, what? Jim: You know, people would probably take you more seriously if you didn't say the word "literally" so often. It makes you sound like a girl. Sheila: ... I am a girl, what should I sound like? Bruce: Well, you know, *professional* Jim: Not that feelings are unprofessional, of course. I feel feelings. Bruce: Of course you do, Jim, let me just validate that for you. Feeling feelings is absolutely called for sometimes. Sheila: You know what, I'm just going to be done right now. Bruce: What? Jim: Probably on her period, we should try to be more sensitive to her needs. Sheila: FFFFFfffffff Bruce: You really can't trust a woman not to be too emotional to engage.

[uppityginger]

Say No To This

Say No To This

(more…)

[uppityginger]

Hello Orbit! See my coloring book!

Hello Orbit! See my coloring book!

Are you worried about conflict in the atheist movement? Do you like bright colors and coloring? Is all this change in the air making you wish you had something to occupy your hands? Buy a coloring book!

Or, you know, read all the deep and insightful posts here at The Orbit, but, come on, it’s a new site that features the images predominantly on the main page. How could I miss that opportunity?…

[uppityginger]

Thank you, FreethoughtBlogs

It was an honor to blog here and I will always be grateful to PZ, Ed, and my other fellow FTBers, both current and former, who gave me the opportunity and the community of our network. So many opportunities in my life have come from the chance Ed and the Admissions Committee took on me way back when. Thank you. I will be moving to The Orbit, something I’m very excited about. Though people have…

[uppityginger]

Reason Rally 2016 Interview with Lyz Liddell

Reason Rally 2016 Interview with Lyz Liddell

Lyz Liddell reached out to me to talk about the Reason Rally, including the concerns I had about diversity and the response I got regarding the current line-up. We agreed to do a written interview. Here on, everything italics is me, otherwise, it’s her. Hi! I’m Lyz Liddell, the Executive Director of the Reason Rally Coalition. My job is, first and foremost (and almost exclusively) the…

[uppityginger]

Reason Rally 2016: 71% "Minority" and 89% White

Reason Rally 2016: 71% “Minority” and 89% White

I sent a web form message to Reason Rally expressing concern about the people who were speaking and their ability to appeal to a broad base of non-believers. I thought, especially with both Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawkins in the line up, that they might need a nudge to understand that they were turning off a lot of potential attendees. They should consider finding more women and people of…

[uppityginger]

Carrie Fisher gives epic face

[uppityginger]

Drawlloween Oct 2 Devil

[uppityginger]

Drawlloween Oct 1

[uppityginger]

Atheist tribalism poisons everything

Atheist tribalism poisons everything

Atheists, we need to talk. We need to talk about our tendency to think we are better than other people and better than religious people in specific. We need to talk about how we think that religion is the reason that bad things happen in the world. We need to talk about our culture of turning a blind eye towards the despicable behavior we see among ourselves. All of those things we do are exactly…

[uppityginger]

Adventures in Narcolepsy, Part 6: The Sleep Doctor

Adventures in Narcolepsy, Part 6: The Sleep Doctor

MSLT After months of doctors and no answers, the appointment in which I got diagnosed with Narcolepsy was a bit of a non-event. All the build-up, but the payoff was a foregone conclusion. I had so much time to read about it that I wasn’t surprised by the diagnosis. I was surprised by my sleep test results. As you may recall, the test involves sleeping 8 hours overnight and then being left in a…

[uppityginger]

Adventures in Narcolepsy: Part 5, The Dark Place

Adventures in Narcolepsy: Part 5, The Dark Place

A letter from the night before diagnosis. I didn’t originally write this for publication, but just to work through my feelings. After re-reading it with a little distance, I decided it offered some insight into what it is like to have chronic conditions and what it is like to be facing a diagnosis of something incurable. It’s important to note that this was simply me at my nadir, I have, for the…

[uppityginger]

Gay Marriage Nationwide: The Joy and the Sadness

Gay Marriage Nationwide: The Joy and the Sadness

It’s hard to believe it was nearly 7 years ago that Prop 8 passed in California.  I remember staring at the television, immobilized with disbelief and horror, my happiness at Obama’s election completely erased by my anger at the California voters for messing this up so badly. What followed for me was an obsession.  An obsession with law, an obsession with the Prop 8 case, and an obsession with…

[uppityginger]

Dylann Roof's Manifesto

Dylann Roof’s Manifesto

A picture from Roof’s website; 1488 means “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children, Heil Hitler” If you’re at all interested in how Dylann Roof decided to murder 9 black churchgoers, the internet has discovered his manifesto. One of the most interesting things about it, though not at all surprising, is that internet hate sites were key to Roof’s development of…

[uppityginger]

Politicians trying to make Charleston shooting about anything but race

Politicians trying to make Charleston shooting about anything but race

I’m just trying to collect all these quotes in one place — please comment if you know of any I’ve missed. Nikki Haley: “While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we’ll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another.”  “Parents are having to explain to their kids how they can go to church and feel safe, and that’s not…