The things that go through my head

I have decided to shake up my use of the English language. I am endlessly annoyed with the way that language shapes our attitudes toward gender. I am sick and tired of telling people, usually men, to quit being grammatically lazy and use inclusive language. Don’t say “mankind” when you mean “humankind”. The male as standard and female as secondary trope is the foundation upon which the second class status of women is built.

I do make an effort to use gender inclusive language. I believe I am successful in my use of the written word but I definitely lapse in my spoken language. For example, today while I was frittering away my free time by playing Mario Galaxy with my kids, I informed them that we needed to go back to the Loop-Dee-Loop galaxy in order to get more Men for Mario. Then I corrected myself and said 1-ups. But it still annoyed me that I fell for the Male-as-Standard BS at all. Sure, it’s great that I say power-ups or 1-ups. But it would be even better if I went to female as standard. That would really make people think. So no more calling Mario’s lives Men or even 1-ups or power ups. I will call Mario’s lives Women.

I can already hear the silly questions that my use of female as standard, male as secondary will illicit. Here are the silly questions with my responses to each.

Q: “Oh Tanya, you’re such a feminist.”

A: “I do what I can but it’s never enough.”

Q: “Isn’t replacing male as standard with female as standard just proof that you hate men?”

A: “I’m sorry but this question is too stupid for me to take seriously.”

Q: *stunned silence*

“Oh I’m so so sorry that I hurt your feelings. You were being serious! I really had no idea. Well, here is my attempt to answer a question that would not be necessary for me to answer if the radical gay feminist agenda had been as successful as Right-Wing radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh would have you believe.

You see, when I was a young innocent girl-child, I attended public school in order to get this thing called an EDUCATION. It was serious business and I took it very seriously. I did what the teachers asked of me and I truly believed that school had all the answers. However, some thoughtful seeds were planted in my brain when I noticed that the textbooks were written exclusively from the male point of view. When I asked my teachers about this they would either explain that this is just the way it is or they would give me that frustrated eyeroll that my frequent questions illicited. As an adult I would learn all about patriarchy and then it made sense. In a patriarchy, womens’ interests and concerns are not considered because they are secondary to mens’ concerns. This makes no sense when you consider that women make up over half of the human race. But when you live in a patriarchy, that’s just the way it is.

For the majority of my adult life I have done my best to eradicate this trope from my speech, not that anybody has noticed. And I feel this is insufficient to make the point that male as standard is pervasive. If I used female as standard, people may notice and ask questions and maybe even think about the ways that they use language.

You may even want to think about why it is that feminists must spend 98% of their time reassuring the poor men that they do not hate them. ”

Q: “That is such a great idea! I am going to do it too. I’m going to say womankind when I mean humankind (forget mankind). I am going to refer to the gender of animals as she when the gender is unknown. You’re idea is so awesome and amazing that I am going to steal it.”

A: ” Thank you kindly, Woman. Imitation is the sincerest form for flattery.”

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