Enoying the aroma of hot chocolate and texture of gooey cinammon buns can be a comfort while writing final term papers. But that was not the case when I had my warm treats at a UBC campus cafe this afternoon.
A rowdy tableful of men sitting next to me provided the sexist background sound to my thoughts.
Howling at the top of their voices around several pitchers of beer, they were (playfully?) insulting each other using colloquial terms for a woman's genitals.
Incidentally, I was writing a paper for a Women's Studies course. My feminist framework then was completely unsympathetic to their banter, to say the least.
Why does male language use female genitals with such a demeaning connotation?
How can the subject of these insults be both a source of pleasure and contempt from a male perspective?
Does female sexuality signify a position of weakness or submissiveness?
How does it affect the way women perceive their bodies and feel about themselves?
My decision not to use this language in the blog is an effort to discourage and resist its use and normalization by men and women alike.
(Alf, please skip).
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2 comments:
I, for one, admire a good set of genitals. They have a certain wobbly grace.
I dont think I've ever heard it put that way. But I do know those fellows at the cafe were neither admirers nor graceful! It's a wonder they're so desensitized. I wonder if their choice of language would have differed if they were in the company of women.
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