Thursday, November 6, 2008
Sexist language?
So, I read the flickr post on sexist languange and there is a lot of insightful feedback from a lot of the users. Many people seems to say that it doesn't bother them, yet many people look towards the other extreme and even say how dehumanizing some of the tags can be. My response to all of the comments is that it's all about perception. If someone thinks that a particular tag is degrading and undignified then that's his or her problem. I mean if we take all these tags and take them away then you might as use generic language like human or object. This is not what language is designed for. Yes, people think that a lot of the language we use in this day and age is sexist or racist but what the most important thing here is how each individual interprets the language. Yes, there is a certain point where people should draw the line, but if someone is caring about a not so pleasant tag that someone else that they completely do not know put then that's when there is trouble. It's all in the mind.
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Hello:
I enjoyed reading your response to the flickr post. I agree that many of these terms are all about perception. Also, I believe that the internet culture facilitates the free use of such language; however, in the real world, individuals must exhibit more responsibility and caution (especially for college students who will inevitably enter into the professional world). As public speakers, we must be in tune with the demographics and diversity of our audience; each member may have a different perception and response to a given phrase or term. So for public speaking, the individual's problem with sexist language becomes the speaker's problem, which is why it is imperative to remain neutral (in terms of language usage). Whereas the internet culture places the individual responsible for his or her own perception of tags and other means of sexist language. I think, however, it is not so simple in the real world.
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