Re: [Marxism] Re: on sexist language

[Louis Kontos <lkontos@xxxxxxx>]

I agree with this post. When someone takes offense, usually, unless
there is special reason, politiness and civility are in order. People
can always say what they mean differently, unless, of course, they're
dealing with serious stuff -- including concepts like the
exploitation of labor, labor power, etc. -- at which point the faint
of heart should stay out of relevant debates, because tender
sensibilities will certainly be violated.
By the way, whoever used the phrase 'heary chested socialist men'
should apologize. (In fact, everybody should apologize for something
this week, just to get it out of the way, so that this list can back
to serious stuff.) I, being all these things -- heary -chested, male,
and socialist -- see only stereotype when the words are strung together.
Louis

On Jun 3, 2006, at 11:45 AM, Karen Saunders wrote:

> I know the posts on this series of related threads (which started with
> Louise's objection to the use of the word whore to describe
> academics who
> accommodate the needs of imperialism) are getting tiresome to some,
> but
> here are my thoughts, as a longtime reader of Marxmail.
>
> Several people who've posted on this subject seem to confuse simple
> politeness and consideration for others with identity politics.  It
> seems
> to me that understanding that people do have various facets to their
> identity, and that  people have feelings that can be hurt by hastily
> chosen words, is simply an acknowledgement of our common humanity
> and of
> the functioning of the human brain.  We may be sending our words into
> cyberspace, but we're not cyberMarxists, with nice, neat, unemotional
> brains unconnected to any form of identity.  We're humans, with brains
> that do have strong emotions connected to identity and strong
> emotional
> reactions to words.  Thus the old saying, "Sticks and stones may
> break my
> bones, but names will never hurt me, " and it's more realistic form,
> "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can really hurt me."
> Words can and do hurt, so why not choose them carefully and
> apologize when
> you make a mistake.
>
> Am I starting to sound like your fifth or sixth grade teacher
> here?  Well,
> that's who I am, when I'm not reading Marxmail, and that's who I've
> felt
> like in reading many of the messages posted in response to Louise
> and then
> to Steffie.
>
> Someone said in one message, if I'm paraphrasing accurately, that if a
> word is used in common language, than we should just accept its
> use.  This
> post put me right back in my classroom, at a recent morning meeting,
> reminding me of the student who insisted that he had the "right" to
> use
> gay and retarded to mean bad, because "I wasn't talking to someone gay
> when I said it, anyways gay people don't own the word gay," and
> "Everyone
> knows I just mean bad when I say that word".
>
> As his classmates said, "It's mean to talk that way."  "You should
> just
> say you're sorry."  "Next time, don't blurt; it can hurt someone's
> feelings."
>
> If 10, 11, and 12 year-old kids can expect their classmates to be
> polite
> and considerate of the feelings of others, and to simply apologize and
> determine to change when they make a mistake, rather than getting
> defensive, surely we can expect that of our comrades on this list.
>
> Karen
>
>
>
>
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