[Marxism] on sexist language (was academic whoring (sic))

[Andrew Pollack <acpollack2@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm glad Louise objected and hope she re-raises the issue (and related issues) 
as often as needed.
  I can't tell you how many times I've started to use the word "whore"  (or the 
phrase "prostitute him/herself") and stopped myself before  doing so. That's 
not because I'm any more conscious than anyone else on  this list (although for 
Ian to raise the red herring of academic  postmodernist language squabbles 
really was a dodge).
  It's because the power dynamics behind the words are SO obvious.

  Now ironically the temptation to use them is so great because, given  what's 
understood by the words, they describe so aptly the behavior of  
non-prostitutes whose selling of themselves deserve to be characterized  
pithily.

  But it also says something about our society that the most evocative  image 
on the tip of our tongues to describe someone selling themselves  for money is 
not a word or phrase referring to an advertiser, a  salesman, etc., but a 
prostitute. But of course that's because class  society has been using gender 
domination for so very, very long.

                
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