On the "what's the big idea?" page, I disagree with your list of "gendered nouns." The "man" in these nouns isn't man, as in male, but man, as in huMANity. The human being. It isn't male-made, it is MANmade, as in made by a human being. None of those words carry a gender bias, they carry a species bias.
It isn't. Man is named after humanity, as is woman. Both contain the MAN from humanity, woman is just distinguished by two more letters. Same with male and female. It isn't sexism. Males didn't conquer the planet and say "Well shit, lets name our species after ourselves." The species name came first. What the sexes are called was derived from it later.
MaU, if you look up "woman" in the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology reveals that those "two more letters," "wo-," are Old English for "wife." In the English language, unlike others where man and woman do not share a common root, "Woman"="wife"+"man."
Also: I love the low-tech collage style of this piece. Is it strange or appropriate that you made something beautiful and homemade looking out of anger and hate speech? Or maybe it looks loving because, in its own way, it is.
That may be the old english meaning for "woman", but is that really what people think when they say it? If I were to hit the streets and take a poll asking what the definition of "woman" was, I doubt very many people would give me the oxford english dictionary version. Words take up new meaning. Thats the beautiful thing about the english language. It is so flexible that way. Maybe woman meant "wife of man" at some point in history, but it doesn't now.
On the "what's the big idea?" page, I disagree with your list of "gendered nouns." The "man" in these nouns isn't man, as in male, but man, as in huMANity. The human being. It isn't male-made, it is MANmade, as in made by a human being. None of those words carry a gender bias, they carry a species bias.
ReplyDeleteWhy, though, must our entire species be named after man?
ReplyDeleteIt isn't. Man is named after humanity, as is woman. Both contain the MAN from humanity, woman is just distinguished by two more letters. Same with male and female. It isn't sexism. Males didn't conquer the planet and say "Well shit, lets name our species after ourselves." The species name came first. What the sexes are called was derived from it later.
ReplyDeleteMaU, if you look up "woman" in the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology reveals that those "two more letters," "wo-," are Old English for "wife." In the English language, unlike others where man and woman do not share a common root, "Woman"="wife"+"man."
ReplyDeleteAlso: I love the low-tech collage style of this piece. Is it strange or appropriate that you made something beautiful and homemade looking out of anger and hate speech? Or maybe it looks loving because, in its own way, it is.
ReplyDeleteJesse,
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled with your comments. Thank you so much for the compliment; I'm happy you like the zine! :)
That may be the old english meaning for "woman", but is that really what people think when they say it? If I were to hit the streets and take a poll asking what the definition of "woman" was, I doubt very many people would give me the oxford english dictionary version. Words take up new meaning. Thats the beautiful thing about the english language. It is so flexible that way. Maybe woman meant "wife of man" at some point in history, but it doesn't now.
ReplyDelete