A brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist look at gendered language and the way it shapes us.
The word bitch conjures many images, but it is most often meant to describe an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean "a female canine," bitch didn't refer to women at all--it originated as a gender-neutral word for "genitalia." A perfectly innocuous word devolving into an insult directed at females is the case for tons more terms, including hussy, which simply meant "housewife"; and slut, which meant "an untidy person" and was also used to describe men. These are just a few of history's many English slurs hurled at women.
Amanda Montell, reporter and feminist linguist, deconstructs language--from insults, cursing, gossip, and catcalling to grammar and pronunciation patterns--to reveal the ways it has been used for centuries to keep women and other marginalized genders from power. Ever wonder why so many people …
A brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist look at gendered language and the way it shapes us.
The word bitch conjures many images, but it is most often meant to describe an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean "a female canine," bitch didn't refer to women at all--it originated as a gender-neutral word for "genitalia." A perfectly innocuous word devolving into an insult directed at females is the case for tons more terms, including hussy, which simply meant "housewife"; and slut, which meant "an untidy person" and was also used to describe men. These are just a few of history's many English slurs hurled at women.
Amanda Montell, reporter and feminist linguist, deconstructs language--from insults, cursing, gossip, and catcalling to grammar and pronunciation patterns--to reveal the ways it has been used for centuries to keep women and other marginalized genders from power. Ever wonder why so many people are annoyed when women speak with vocal fry or use like as filler? Or why certain gender-neutral terms stick and others don't? Or where stereotypes of how women and men speak come from in the first place?
Montell effortlessly moves between history, science, and popular culture to explore these questions--and how we can use the answers to affect real social change. Montell's irresistible humor shines through, making linguistics not only approachable but downright hilarious and profound. Wordslut gets to the heart of our language, marvels at its elasticity, and sheds much-needed light on the biases that shadow women in our culture and our consciousness.
Read this for a history of The Man holding women down with a dictionary; an explanation of vocal fry and upspeak, the roles they fill in female communication, and how vilifying them is part of a hate as old as time; the many grammatical roles that an f-bomb can play; why gay guys often sound gay but lesbians don't sound 'lesbian'; and the word 'slut'. A lot. Just read it.
Edit: I originally rated Wordslut at four stars, but on reflection, its combination of outrage and history, delivered with disarming humor, sets a bar that should be considered the gold standard, not the silver standard.
In many ways, I ought to have been a linguistics (or biochem) rather than mathematics major in college! Language is so important (and fascinating) to a society, including how it reflects the society and the workings of the society overall and how it changes year to year (decade to decade) to reflect said society as it does so. This book discusses the language and linguistics of the US and their effect on, and more precisely how they are affected by sexism and prejudice exhibited by our nation. It discusses more than just the language and linguistics themselves, but the underlying prejudices displayed by them, and some of what we currently ARE doing and should encourage to help offset some of the negative impacts.
She had me, not quite at hello, but certainly by the second page, and she kept me hooked the entire way through. So many of my favorite subjects! Linguistics. Etymology. Culture, anthropology, listening, communicating. Snark. Ideas. Smart, strong, sexy women working together to smash the patriarchy. I want to read it again. I want to buy a dozen copies to give away.
Not all of it was entirely comprehensible, but that’s my fault: I’m too old and unhip. I still don’t really know what “vocal fry” is, despite friend A. spending 20 minutes with me on it. (Or, I guess I now know more about it, but I’ve never noticed it and don’t understand why it’s such a huge deal to some people). And there are terms like “yas” and ”werk” that completely whooshed over my head. But that’s cool — I mean hip — or groovy — or phat? …
She had me, not quite at hello, but certainly by the second page, and she kept me hooked the entire way through. So many of my favorite subjects! Linguistics. Etymology. Culture, anthropology, listening, communicating. Snark. Ideas. Smart, strong, sexy women working together to smash the patriarchy. I want to read it again. I want to buy a dozen copies to give away.
Not all of it was entirely comprehensible, but that’s my fault: I’m too old and unhip. I still don’t really know what “vocal fry” is, despite friend A. spending 20 minutes with me on it. (Or, I guess I now know more about it, but I’ve never noticed it and don’t understand why it’s such a huge deal to some people). And there are terms like “yas” and ”werk” that completely whooshed over my head. But that’s cool — I mean hip — or groovy — or phat? Whatever. By far the majority of the book is informative, thoughtful, relevant, and a joy to read: Montell writes beautifully and with gusto.
