maybe you often get angry and say words

shiphassailed:

pisskringle:

acutespider:

grrrlfever:

tweakertheindian:

this gets me upset as a man. i see this and i really do get angry. why you ask? because on a base level, in some primordial archaic place, probably deep in my male dna, this guy is useless. a male who replicates the feminine is now useless to me. that man is not going to go kill deer with me in the forest. that man is not going to lock step with me on a battle line when the horde of Persian soldiers comes over the hill. that man is not going to put me on his shoulder and carry me to the medic when i get shot in the leg. this man, is useless as a man. there are unique qualities to your gender i believe one should embrace. and qualities of the opposite gender one should reject.

when someone says “this gets me upset as a man” it’s an immediate cue for me to stop paying attention to what follows

im howling

“that man is not going to lock step with me on a battle line when the horde of Persian soldiers comes over the hill.”
word of advice, dude: fedoras aren’t effective combat helmets

poetry

pisskringle:

acutespider:

grrrlfever:

tweakertheindian:

this gets me upset as a man. i see this and i really do get angry. why you ask? because on a base level, in some primordial archaic place, probably deep in my male dna, this guy is useless. a male who replicates the feminine is now useless to me. that man is not going to go kill deer with me in the forest. that man is not going to lock step with me on a battle line when the horde of Persian soldiers comes over the hill. that man is not going to put me on his shoulder and carry me to the medic when i get shot in the leg. this man, is useless as a man. there are unique qualities to your gender i believe one should embrace. and qualities of the opposite gender one should reject.

when someone says “this gets me upset as a man” it’s an immediate cue for me to stop paying attention to what follows

im howling

“that man is not going to lock step with me on a battle line when the horde of Persian soldiers comes over the hill.”

word of advice, dude: fedoras aren’t effective combat helmets

poetry

(via roachpatrol)

Source: grrrlfever

signal boost; backdoor anti-abortion bill motion in Parliament rn

palilicium:

“In just 48 hours, our MPs will debate a Conservative motion that the Canadian Medical Association, representing 70,000 doctors, is calling a ‘backdoor’ attempt to criminalize abortion.^[1,2]

In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the abortion provision of the Criminal Code was unconstitutional. But this week, Parliament will be debating a motion that would threaten our reproductive rights - and the rights of our friends, daughters, mothers, sisters, and partners.^[3,4,5]

Prime Minister Harper has chosen to allow this motion to go forward to a free vote in Parliament, so every MP must decide whether or not they will stand up for the rights that women and our allies have been fighting to protect for decades.

We need a huge public outcry to show our MPs that Canadians will not tolerate this covert attack on women’s rights.

Twenty-four years ago, Supreme Court Justice Wilson stated that governments in a democratic society must never interfere with a woman’s right to choose:

“The decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy is essentially a moral decision and in a free and democratic society the conscience of the individual must be paramount to that of the state.” – Supreme Court Justice Wilson^[3]

The motion seeks to undermine the Supreme Court’s ruling by reopening the debate on the legal definition of a human being under the Criminal Code. High-profile members of Harper’s caucus have stated that the real goal of the motion is to attack women’s rights:

“The ultimate intention of this motion is to restrict abortions at some development stage in Canada.” – Conservative Party whip, Gordon O’Connor^[6]

This tactic has been used in the United States in a slow and relentless campaign to criminalize women’s reproductive rights and fan the flames of their culture war. Prime Minister Harper has publicly stated that he does not want to reopen this debate. Yet, while he exerts complete control over his own party, he has still chosen to let this covert attack on women’s rights go to a free vote that will test how Canadians react and open the door to attempts to criminalize abortion.

If enough of us speak out and contact our MPs right now, we can make sure this motion is decisively defeated and send a clear message that Canadians will defend our reproductive rights.”

pls signal boost!

(via playerprophet)

Source: yilduza

[TW: Slurs] The Word “Pussy”

permutationofninjas:

megaparsecs:

permutationofninjas:

megaparsecs:

permutationofninjas:

megaparsecs:

permutationofninjas:

[snipped]

[snipped]

[snipped]

[snipped]

[snipped]

#yep this is getting annoying #and frustrating #but hey #that’s life

All right, where do we start?

No, I did not realize that one of the people collaborating on this post was a linguist, seeing as I have very little idea of who runs this baby. Just because someone’s a linguist doesn’t mean that they’re right. I’m talking more on the linguistic anthropologic side of things anyway, I got some linguists who I can pull into this sucker, but does that really matter.

Okay, so we’re going by logic and reason rather than credentials. I’m good with that.

At this point, you know what? I’m calling it. You’re deliberately misconstruing what I’m talking about. You smug motherfuckers, you know what you did.

Not really. Enlighten us.

No, really. You know what you did. I want you - I dare you - to write me a post explaining why you made that original post, and to come up with any feasible excuse besides “we wanted to find a reason to use a word that makes people angry, because it’ll make other people angry.”

We don’t need a post, just one line:

“We wrote the post because one of our admins got sick of people’s stupidity regarding a word that they’ve always associated with cats.”

Also, we’d like to see you point out a single location (outside this set of posts, of course) where we ever even use the term in any insulting sense.

Controversy and opposition for the sake of controversy and opposition is only cute when you’re seven.

No, REALLY. I want you to tell me the impetus behind writing a post that is just about why if you assume that someone calling you a pussy is insulting you, you’re stupid.

Been there, done that. Also, stop putting words in our mouth. Nobody claimed that “pussy” wasn’t insulting, only that two of the three ways it can be used insultingly weren’t slurs related to the female genitalia.

And then I want you to make a post detailing every time using a word like “niggardly” - yes I know what it means in that context yes I can read nineteenth and twentieth century literature too - is okay in the year 2012.

Whenever someone is using it with a view to its actual meaning, rather than to simply get cheap laughs based on the fact that it sounds similar to a racial slur with no etymological connection to it.

I cannot BELIEVE you actually said, “well what if someone really DID mean happy when they said gay.” This is willful ignorance of the most vile kind. This entire situation is.

The point, that you seem to be continually missing, is that intent matters. Your entire claim basically amounts to the idea that it’s someone’s right to condemn someone else for saying something that sounds like a slur, whether or not that was actually what they meant.

I think it’s cute how you’re trying to undermine me, personally, not my argument here. I really do. “You should keep your dayjob,” “Well, that’s encouraging,”

Your punchline wasn’t funny. What did you expect us to say?

You know what else is encouraging?

Knowing that no matter where I go, what I see, or who I meet, there will still be assholes who sit at their computers, and smugly talk in hypotheticals about real concrete words that hurt people.

Sounds like you, yes. I’m also going to quietly remind you here that three of our five administrators are AFAB. When “pussy” is being applied as a slur it’s applied to men significantly more often than women, so the people who are actually being hurt are not the ones you’re fighting for.

You don’t get to call a woman a pussy and then laugh when she’s insulted. You don’t get to tell me that I shouldn’t be offended when someone calls me a dyke.

Wait.

Call a woman a pussy?

….Oh my god. You are an idiot.

Homonyms are a bitch, aren’t they. See, you’re referring to the use of “pussy” as it is a slur, i.e. something like “I’m going to a party tonight, hoping to get some pussy”. Objectifying women and reducing them down to their genitalia is absolutely misogynist, and would be considered a slur.

THAT IS NOT WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT.

What we’re talking about is calling a man a pussy, i.e. “Don’t be a pussy, just do it”. Implying he is weak and cowardly and all those definitions that spring from the word “pursy”, as our initial etymology lesson showed you. Not only have you completely missed our original point, you’re off talking about something completely unrelated and accusing us of it. I’m surprised you can put on pants in the morning without hurting yourself.

Kindly go away before you embarrass yourself further.

Oh, and for the record:

And no, the word “dick” isn’t degrading to a person with a dick’s genitals. You wanna know why? Cause of four thousand motherfuckin years of cultural symbolism that’s the reason why.

We had a bet riding on this last part. I won.

Oh my God, this is getting precious.

Calling me an idiot is the best you can do? I mean, come on friends, at least throw a “fucking” in there. Insult my parentage or something, insinuate that when I try and wipe the drool away from my mouth I miss and punch my eye instead.

It’s like you’re not even trying. : ’ (

Oh! Also,

Sounds like you, yes. I’m also going to quietly remind you here that three of our five administrators are AFAB. When “pussy” is being applied as a slur it’s applied to men significantly more often than women, so the people who are actually being hurt are not the ones you’re fighting for.

I am gettin some real [Citation Needed] vibes from that bit about pussy being used more in the context of insulting men than women. I am going to need someone to gently hold my hand and explain to me how this hurts men more than it hurts women.

The point, that you seem to be continually missing, is that intent matters. Your entire claim basically amounts to the idea that it’s someone’s right to condemn someone else for saying something that sounds like a slur, whether or not that was actually what they meant.

Yes. Yes, I am saying it is okay to call someone out for using a slur in any situation, for them to say “hey could you not use that word? It makes me uncomfortable” or to say “what did you just call me?” or whatever they want.

What we’re talking about is calling a man a pussy, i.e. “Don’t be a pussy, just do it”. Implying he is weak and cowardly and all those definitions that spring from the word “pursy”, as our initial etymology lesson showed you. Not only have you completely missed our original point, you’re off talking about something completely unrelated and accusing us of it.

Where did you specify that? Like, ever? That you were only using it in the context of dudes?

Also, since we’re on the subject of words that are about dingle dangles, I’m glad you pointed out that bit about dicks up there! See, what you’re suggesting here, if I’m getting this right, is that “pussy” is insulting to men? But that’s not necessarily misogynistic?

like, am i tracking this right here.

but you’ve also stated time and again and again that pussy is a word for vagina, so you’re saying that calling a guy a vag doesn’t have anything misogynistic about it, because of, reasons.

the reason that “pussy” is so damn insulting to men is because of its association with femininity, it’s the more vulgar iteration of “you swing like a girl” and you’re saying that comparing a man to a woman’s genitals in order to insult him isn’t misogynistic?

hold on, let’s ride the choo choo train of offensive back to your original post.

So how does this affect it being a “gendered” insult? The thing is, as far as etymology goes the “genitalia” definition is from a completely different source to the “insult” definition. The former comes from words from three languages (Old Norse, Saxon, English) meaning some form of “pocket” or “bag”, and the other comes from Old French meaning “to push”, or, rather, denotes someone who is “easily pushed” or weak.

From an etymological standpoint, the two meanings are completely unrelated. As mentioned above, etymology isn’t everything. Certainly many people do make the connection between genitalia and women, but many, a surprising number in fact, do not. (For example, in my case I assumed the insult derived from the feline version, given feline timidity. I found the genitalia reference rather confusing, as it didn’t connect.) Misogyny, however, is in the mouth of the speaker, not the ear of the listener.

Cool. Now kindly read this Slate article, which talks about the origins and useage of the word “pussy,” or this article from Auto Straddle, that points out the hey man, you’ve been leavin some shit out in your entire discussion of this word and -

no, you know what. I’m sick of your bullshit, I have had it up to here with it. I have had it up to here with you - or you all? who knows what lies beyond the shroud - talking down to me and misconstruing your arguments because lol look at the feminist dance feminist dance for me.

i challenge you - i challenge ANY of you fuckers reading this - to give me a good solid argument for why using the word pussy or cunt or bitch or any insult directly associated with a woman or female genitalia isn’t misogynistic. My ask box is open, my submit box is open. I wanna hear it. Go on, give it your best goddamn shot. I am literally dying to hear someone justify cunt to me.

oh and, by the way,

I’m surprised you can put on pants in the morning without hurting yourself.

Sounds like you, yes.

….Oh my god. You are an idiot.

My grandmother insults better than you, you sanctimonious two faced pieces of shit. Try harder.

(via permutationofninjas)

[TW: Slurs] The Word “Pussy”

permutationofninjas:

megaparsecs:

permutationofninjas:

megaparsecs:

permutationofninjas:

[snipped]

[snipped]

[snipped]

Awesome I love some midnight linguistics let’s roll up our sleeves and dive into this steaming barrel of horseshit.

Well, that’s encouraging.

Look, I did not misunderstand what I was responding to. What I was responding to was an argument that the English word “pussy” was not a slur because a. “pussy” does not have in its nascent definitions the denotation OR connotation of “vagina” and b. the word was not gendered because it was originally not associated with any gender and c. the genitalia bit of the word was not related, originally, to the insult bit of the word. So that means it’s okay to call a woman a pussy cause she’s probably just misunderstanding you.

“Pussy” is a slur if and only if the person using it is connecting it to the female genitalia. If they are connecting it to either of the other two meanings, it’s not a slur. This is grade-school stuff here.

The only reason you’re having trouble with this is that unlike other words like “fag”, one (or both) of the other meanings of “pussy” happen to be used similarly to the slur derived from the third. If someone asks you to “pass them a fag”, most people are smart enough to presume that you don’t want them to hand you a homosexual man, and vice versa if someone says that someone is “such a fag”, it’s fairly obvious that they’re not comparing the person to a cigarette.

Pussy just happens to be somewhat more complicated.

If I call you a pussy, I may be implying that you’re lazy and skittish like a cat, or that you’re weak and useless, but I’m sure as hell not comparing you to a vagina….I like vaginas.

Before accusing someone of being a misogynist, make sure they are. If not, prepare to be told to shut the fuck up.

(That is from your original post btw)

In the end, yeah, you’re right, etymology isn’t very important.

Okay, so I presume you’ve never called anyone out for ableist language? If you have, you’re a hypocrite.

My reasoning for looking at the etymological side was that a. I will take literally any excuse to fuck around with the OED that i can, and b. your entire argument in your original post was predicated on the assumption that etymology was important to take into consideration when determining whether or not the use of the word “pussy” was okay.

Intent and meaning are important. Are you going to argue that it’s not?

The reason we criticized your dive into etymology is that you spent a number of paragraphs trying to prove a meaning of the word that we’d already acknowledged.

I was critiquing your argument on two fronts: from my position that it does not fucking matter what anyone said in the past, our culture reads “pussy” as an insult, against women, and havin to do with vaginas and so the use of it is wrong you can’t just fuckin throw it around like it’s wrapping paper on a Christmas morning; and the second front I was attacking was okay, so, setting all that aside, from an etymological standpoint how has the useage of the word in a historical context reflected the use of the word as a slur today?

You were critiquing our argument on two fronts, and you were wrong on both.

Should we cease to use any number of words that sound vaguely like “nigger” (“niggardly” comes to mind, despite also having absolutely no connection) simply because idiots connect the two? Once again, meaning is important.

The problem with your second front is that we’re not addressing the “historical” usage, we’re addressing the fact that it’s not simply a “historical” usage. Most people learn the term as an insult and cat reference long before they learn of its connection to the female genitalia, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find that a lot of them, including myself used it based on those meanings.

My point here is, at the end of the day, that language is a much more complex and layered and nuanced and intricate system than you’re giving it credit for that slurs can originate from a bunch of different places and mean different things in different cultures even cultures who share the same prestige language and you can’t just fucking throw around the word “pussy” you can’t come up with some milequetoast “academic” argument for why you get to use a slur and make it okay.

You do realize that one of the people who’s been responding to you (and will have proofread this) is a linguist who probably knows far more about language than you and I put together, right?

The argument about the use of “pussy” is far from academic: unless the person is using it to refer to the female genitalia it’s not a slur. Period. If they are, it is. I know I’m harping on one string at this point, but intent matters.

That’s what’s wrong here. Not the technical definition of the word “slur” not the technical definition of any damn word. What’s wrong is, you’re arguing that if someone calls someone else a pussy, “Before accusing someone of being a misogynist, make sure they are. If not, prepare to be told to shut the fuck up.” You’re arguing that I am not allowed to take offense at its useage because oh, that’s not necessarily what it means.

If someone asks you to “pass them a fag” and you fly off the handle, you’re an idiot. This is no different.

Yes, the word “faggot” original meant “bundle of sticks” and yes, if you say it in Britain it means cigarette. And the word “gay” didn’t originally have the connotation of “homosexual” and the word “dyke” was originally just a trench or a dam but that doesn’t mean you get to use them and then hold up your hands and go “woah, woah! How can you attack me for that being offensive? Wow, shut the fuck up.”

As we’ve pointed out, the only difference between these and “pussy” is that it’s easier to infer their meaning from context. If I say “would you please build a dyke in that field” nobody’s going to suggest that we want you to go into the field and procreate a lesbian infant. Once again, the only reason “pussy” is more difficult is because multiple meanings happen to be used as insults.

Like seriously this is some middle school ” ‘But teach when I said ‘that’s really gay’ I meant ‘that’s really happy!’” shit.

And if that’s what they genuinely meant, they’re right. I know people prone to archaic verbiage who do indeed use it that way, and when they do it’s not a slur. There is a difference between claiming separate meaning simply to avoid punishment, and genuinely using an alternate meaning. For the third and (for fuck’s sake hopefully) final time, the only difference with “pussy” is that more than one of the possible meanings happen to be insults.

This isn’t hard. Don’t use slurs. If everyone else around you reads it as an insult then don’t use it and act surprised when people take offense.

It is an insult. It’s not a slur.

Clearly my mistake here was not going straight for the fucking punchline, though I’m sure then you would have argued that I did not address your original point re: etymology and also that I didn’t provide sources.

Don’t quit your day job — your punchline really sucks.

-I wonder if she’d fight as valiantly to prove that the use of the word “dick” is a slur that shouldn’t be used because it’s degrading to a man’s genitals. Because by her logic she’d have to admit that if pussy is degrading to women than dick is degrading to men right? —Tian-Tian

#yep this is getting annoying #and frustrating #but hey #that’s life

All right, where do we start?

No, I did not realize that one of the people collaborating on this post was a linguist, seeing as I have very little idea of who runs this baby. Just because someone’s a linguist doesn’t mean that they’re right. I’m talking more on the linguistic anthropologic side of things anyway, I got some linguists who I can pull into this sucker, but does that really matter.

At this point, you know what? I’m calling it. You’re deliberately misconstruing what I’m talking about. You smug motherfuckers, you know what you did.

No, really. You know what you did. I want you - I dare you - to write me a post explaining why you made that original post, and to come up with any feasible excuse besides “we wanted to find a reason to use a word that makes people angry, because it’ll make other people angry.”

Controversy and opposition for the sake of controversy and opposition is only cute when you’re seven.

No, REALLY. I want you to tell me the impetus behind writing a post that is just about why if you assume that someone calling you a pussy is insulting you, you’re stupid.

And then I want you to make a post detailing every time using a word like “niggardly” - yes I know what it means in that context yes I can read nineteenth and twentieth century literature too - is okay in the year 2012.

I cannot BELIEVE you actually said, “well what if someone really DID mean happy when they said gay.” This is willful ignorance of the most vile kind. This entire situation is.

I think it’s cute how you’re trying to undermine me, personally, not my argument here. I really do. “You should keep your dayjob,” “Well, that’s encouraging,”

You know what else is encouraging?

Knowing that no matter where I go, what I see, or who I meet, there will still be assholes who sit at their computers, and smugly talk in hypotheticals about real concrete words that hurt people.

You don’t get to call a woman a pussy and then laugh when she’s insulted. You don’t get to tell me that I shouldn’t be offended when someone calls me a dyke.

And no, the word “dick” isn’t degrading to a person with a dick’s genitals. You wanna know why? Cause of four thousand motherfuckin years of cultural symbolism that’s the reason why.

(via permutationofninjas)

- #tw: slur
- #slur
- #slurs
- #tw: slurs
- #l m a o tagging
- #sexism
- #misogyny
8 months ago > permutationofninjas
122
Permalink

[TW: Slurs] The Word “Pussy”

permutationofninjas:

megaparsecs:

permutationofninjas:

[snipped]

[snipped]

You do have a very good point! And in fact, as we said in the first paragraph of the original post, “usage matters and it may well be gendered now because people use it that way”.

However, you seemed to miss a lot of the original post. Literally half of what you’ve said is an attempt to show that “pussy” refers to vaginas sometimes. This is absolutely true! In fact, it’s so true that it was one of the three definitions we brought up in the original post! Our whole point was that there is a definition of “pussy” that means “vagina”, and there’s a definition of “pussy” that means “weak”, and that they’re more or less homonyms with entirely disparate etymology. Seriously, did you even read the post you’re responding to, or….?

Our point is not, and never has been, that “pussy” is never a gendered slur. It absolutely can be. What we were trying to say was that it is not always a gendered slur, just like “fag” is sometimes just a word for a cigarette. People using the word “pussy” as an insult sometimes — perhaps more often than you’d think — are referring to something other than female genitalia, just like the contributor who wrote the original post who had always connected the term to cats. Heck, for my part, I don’t even think about genitals when I say it, I’m just using it because it is a sequence of phonemes that I understand as being insulting.

A secondary point is that you can’t have it both ways when it comes to the definition of a slur. If you’re trying to define a word as a slur because it has a problematic etymology (like “idiot”, which was a medical diagnosis for the mentally disabled), then you can’t then turn around and define something as a slur because it is used as one despite a perfectly benign etymology (like “faggot”, which was a term for a bundle of sticks). You have to pick one.

Like I said, you did make a bunch of good points, but you seem to have misunderstood the….well, the entire body of what you were responding to.

Awesome I love some midnight linguistics let’s roll up our sleeves and dive into this steaming barrel of horseshit.

Look, I did not misunderstand what I was responding to. What I was responding to was an argument that the English word “pussy” was not a slur because a. “pussy” does not have in its nascent definitions the denotation OR connotation of “vagina” and b. the word was not gendered because it was originally not associated with any gender and c. the genitalia bit of the word was not related, originally, to the insult bit of the word. So that means it’s okay to call a woman a pussy cause she’s probably just misunderstanding you.

If I call you a pussy, I may be implying that you’re lazy and skittish like a cat, or that you’re weak and useless, but I’m sure as hell not comparing you to a vagina….I like vaginas.

Before accusing someone of being a misogynist, make sure they are. If not, prepare to be told to shut the fuck up.

(That is from your original post btw)

In the end, yeah, you’re right, etymology isn’t very important.

My reasoning for looking at the etymological side was that a. I will take literally any excuse to fuck around with the OED that i can, and b. your entire argument in your original post was predicated on the assumption that etymology was important to take into consideration when determining whether or not the use of the word “pussy” was okay.

I was critiquing your argument on two fronts: from my position that it does not fucking matter what anyone said in the past, our culture reads “pussy” as an insult, against women, and havin to do with vaginas and so the use of it is wrong you can’t just fuckin throw it around like it’s wrapping paper on a Christmas morning; and the second front I was attacking was okay, so, setting all that aside, from an etymological standpoint how has the useage of the word in a historical context reflected the use of the word as a slur today?

My point here is, at the end of the day, that language is a much more complex and layered and nuanced and intricate system than you’re giving it credit for that slurs can originate from a bunch of different places and mean different things in different cultures even cultures who share the same prestige language and you can’t just fucking throw around the word “pussy” you can’t come up with some milequetoast “academic” argument for why you get to use a slur and make it okay.

That’s what’s wrong here. Not the technical definition of the word “slur” not the technical definition of any damn word. What’s wrong is, you’re arguing that if someone calls someone else a pussy, “Before accusing someone of being a misogynist, make sure they are. If not, prepare to be told to shut the fuck up.” You’re arguing that I am not allowed to take offense at its useage because oh, that’s not necessarily what it means.

Yes, the word “faggot” original meant “bundle of sticks” and yes, if you say it in Britain it means cigarette. And the word “gay” didn’t originally have the connotation of “homosexual” and the word “dyke” was originally just a trench or a dam but that doesn’t mean you get to use them and then hold up your hands and go “woah, woah! How can you attack me for that being offensive? Wow, shut the fuck up.”

Like seriously this is some middle school ” ‘But teach when I said ‘that’s really gay’ I meant ‘that’s really happy!’” shit.

This isn’t hard. Don’t use slurs. If everyone else around you reads it as an insult then don’t use it and act surprised when people take offense.

Clearly my mistake here was not going straight for the fucking punchline, though I’m sure then you would have argued that I did not address your original point re: etymology and also that I didn’t provide sources.

(via permutationofninjas)

[TW: Slurs] The Word “Pussy”

permutationofninjas:

After seeing a lot of exclamations about this being a “gendered, sex-negative insult” I figured it was worth clearing some things up. (Be aware, though, that etymology is not always king, usage matters and it may well be gendered now because people use it that way.)

There are three distinct meanings of the word, all of which come from quite distinctly different places. The first meaning, of course, is “cat”, something derived from the German call-name “puss”. (That is, one would name a cat puss.) In English, it became a generic identifier.

The second meaning refers to the female genitalia as a whole, and is generally considered vulgar but not insulting. While one wouldn’t use it in polite company, it’s not an inherently insulting way to refer to someone’s genitalia if they’re fine with it. This term is mostly likely derived from Old Norse, Saxon or English, pūss(pocket), pūse (vulva) or pusa (bag) respectively.

The third meaning is a direct insult, referring to weakness. As far as can be determined, this comes from an alternate spelling of “pursy”, an English word meaning “fat and short-breathed; fat, short, and thick; swelled with pampering…” That word was in turn derived from the Old French pourcif, poulsif, poussif meaning “to push, thrust or heave”, a cognate with the contemporary French “pousser” meaning “to push”.

It should be noted, thus, that all three of these meanings come from distinctly different sources, and were derived from different words. In fact, this word is effectively three homonyms, not a single word at all.

So how does this affect it being a “gendered” insult? The thing is, as far as etymology goes the “genitalia” definition is from a completely different source to the “insult” definition. The former comes from words from three languages (Old Norse, Saxon, English) meaning some form of “pocket” or “bag”, and the other comes from Old French meaning “to push”, or, rather, denotes someone who is “easily pushed” or weak.

From an etymological standpoint, the two meanings are completely unrelated. As mentioned above, etymology isn’t everything. Certainly many people do make the connection between genitalia and women, but many, a surprising number in fact, do not. (For example, in my case I assumed the insult derived from the feline version, given feline timidity. I found the genitalia reference rather confusing, as it didn’t connect.) Misogyny, however, is in the mouth of the speaker, not the ear of the listener.

If I call you a pussy, I may be implying that you’re lazy and skittish like a cat, or that you’re weak and useless, but I’m sure as hell not comparing you to a vagina….I like vaginas.

Before accusing someone of being a misogynist, make sure they are. If not, prepare to be told to shut the fuck up.

Hey kids, it’s another time for story time with tumblr usr megaparsecs!!

First off, let’s talk about the difference between a word’s connotation and denotation.

The denotation of a word is its dictionary definition! For example, the denotation of the word “bitch” is “the female of the dog.”

However, if someone called me a bitch, would it be right to hold off judgement of that as a gendered insult before we determine whether that personage was in fact innocently intending to call me a female dog and this is some hilarious Three’s Company shit?

Connotation, on the other hand, is the definition of the word that’s associated with it, the tone and the flavor the word can bring to a sentence. Going back, agin, to “bitch,” even though it’s not in the dictionary definition, we know that in our culture, linguistically, that word is used to insult and degrade women.

So even if someone was aware of the rich etymological history of the word “pussy,” that would not, in fact, influence their actual useage.

Because what’s generally important in anthropological linguistics is the meaning that the speakers pour into the words, not dictionary definitions or etymologies. These meanings and connotations can vary from culture to culture. Often the connotations do have historical precedence, and are carried from generation to generation of language speakers in the area! Exciting.

But, going back to the etymological argument -

Like, yes, “puss” as a word for a cat is derived from Dutch/German origins. Good good job there.

The second bit mentioned, of “pussy” being “vulgar but not insulting” is of course more of a matter of sensibilities than strict definition, verging on a connotative than a denotative argument.

Also one quick wow-gosh-English-what-a-language, when you’re talking about Old Norse, Saxon or [Old] English, they weren’t really, that easily bricked off from one another? Old English borrows a shitload from Old Norse (as well as High German), and Saxon feeds into Old English as well, and - I’ll stop here cause I have linguists somewhere on my dash I think and I fear them I fear them and their mighty lexicons the point being its not that easy to cordon off one language from the other, especially when we’re talking languages that existed in a really small space amongst various groups of people who kept fighting and assimilating and marrying into and killing off each other.

Looking back to early useages of “pussy” or “puss” in the “vulgar but not insulting” definition, we’ve got some quotes we can look at (and I’m pullin these from the OED):

Startin off with “Poems and Songs” by A. Tait in 1790,

Thro’ Susan’s Holland smock or spare/ Or on her pussie for to stare.

We’ve got from “The Love Feast; or, A Bride’s Experience. A Poem in Six Nights’ in 1865

My poor pussy, rent and sore,/Dreaded yet longed for one fuck more.

Truckin back to 1664, there’s Charles Cotton’s “Scarronides: or, Virgile travestie, A mock-poem” which has

Here’s a Health to thee,/ To Pusse and to good company./ And he that will not do, as I do/ Proclaims himself no friend to Dido.

Or from 1707, in EJ Burford’s “Bawdy Verse” -

But he missed of the sport for/ Puss would not start.

Moving into more modern instances of the word, there’s a growing trend of the word “pussy” not just to note the presence of a vagina, or the act of sexin’ up a vagina, but of ”pussy” as the goal itself, singularly, something that is commoditized and won and possessed.

Harlan Ellison, in “Golden Spike” (1952) -

All the boys think about now is getting high, getting clothes, and getting pussy.

Lumping in “pussy” with the act of acquiring possessions frames our understanding of the word.

Or, H. Kruishi in “Love in Blue Time” (1997) -

“Thank Christ there’s plenty of pussy back on stream now that the Aids frenzy has worn off.”

Additional, the OED has as a definition of the word “pussy:”

A woman, or women collectively, regarded as a source of sexual intercourse.

An example the OED gives of its useage with this definition is from “Professor Romeo” by A. Ernays in 1989,

“Look, there’s plenty of pussy around - you can fuck just about any damn female you please.”

Here, I feel like both the connotation and the denotation are pretty clear. Whether or not the use of the word, in these instances, is actually offensive to someone is an individual thing.

So that’s the etymology bit, there’s tons more, and stuff, but, I honestly feel comfortable - like really comfortable - classifying this baby as a gendered slur.

thesavagesalad:

tw: discussions on rape, rape culture and victime blaming

dollfacelovely:

Myth Busting: False Rape Reports

Last week, Alex Knepper’s column generated a buzz on campus and around the country. While many read the piece as an irresponsible condonation of sexual assault, others argued that it was merely identifying an age-old truth: some women routinely get drunk, have sex, and then “cry rape” the next morning because they regret their actions. When CBS interviewed Knepper, he claimed that “thousands” of men suffer from false rape reports. Unfortunately, just as The Eagle was negligent in ensuring that Knepper was writing a responsible piece, CBS also failed to set the record straight with fact-checking legwork. Thus, both media outlets irresponsiblyprovided Knepper with an opportunity to perpetuate long-standing — and untrue — myths about high percentages of false rape reports. And based on hundreds of online comments, it’s evident that many students fervently believe these myths.

The hysteria surrounding false rape reporting is due to a number of issues, many of which cannot be fully elaborated upon here. They include institutional patriarchy and the lower position of women in the workplace, individuals’ desires to make themselves feel safe at the expense of blaming victims for crimes, and a disregard for a woman’s right to consume alcohol, have fun, and engage in sexual activities without being assaulted.

But most saliently, misunderstandings occur due to errors in police coding procedures, public misconceptions about the motivations for false allegations, and the simultaneous overrepresentation of false reports and underrepresentation of factual cases in mainstream media. It’s also important to recognize that victim-blaming strategies and a belief in high rates of false rape reports are closely related; they feed off of one another to create a cultural environment in which the majority of assaulted women feel too afraid of public rejection to report the crimes committed against them, and the majority of rapists remain free to continue preying on vulnerable victims.

According to a recent study by the American Prosecutors Research Institute, false rape allegations account for two to eight percent of all reported rapes. This low figure may shock many readers who have heard claims that over 40 percent of rape reports are false. In the past, errors in police coding procedures have often been a reason for high claims of false reports; many reports categorized as “false” actually should be recorded as “unsubstantiated” (which means that there is insufficient evidence to move forward with the case) or “baseless” (indicating that the claim is considered truthful, but the incident doesn’t meet specific elements of the crime). Some reasons for incorrectly categorizing reports include pressure on police officers to close out cases and make their departments appear successful, difficulties with agencies not tracking and differentiating between “false” and “baseless” reports, and a lack of supervision within and across law enforcement agencies regarding careful training and implementation of accurate coding procedures.

A primary myth about false rape reports focuses on the belief that women “cry rape” because they are seeking revenge on men who have wronged them in some way. However, according to this study, the reality is that the vast majority of false allegations “are actually filed by people with serious psychological and emotional problems.” And notably, people who falsely file claims usually do not name specific individuals, but instead “involve only a vaguely described stranger.” These research findings support the theory that people who falsely allege rape do so not out of desire for revenge against a specific person, but because they seek general attention and sympathy.

Finally, myths about high rates of false reports are perpetuated by media stories that provide excessive coverage of highly sensationalized cases. News agencies make little effort to reach out to the academic community to include professional opinions about the validity of the majority of rape reports. Instead, the general public is bombarded with stories about “gold-digging” women who falsely accuse athletes or prominent public figures. Very rarely do we hear the countless true stories of women and children who are abused and manipulated by men they know and trust.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to reflect upon some of the reasons why, so often, people are willing to quickly jump to the defense of accused perpetrators, and are so eager to immediately dismiss the claims of victims. I challenge you, now that you are armed with the knowledge that 92-98 percent of rape allegations are true, to contemplate the reasons why you may be so willing to believe that your neighbor, co-worker, friend, or family member is not a rapist, but that your neighbor, coworker, friend, or family member is lying about being raped. Why do so many of us prefer to dismiss rape victims and defend rapists? Take a few moments to talk with a loved one. Force yourself to face these difficult questions. Only by challenging our preconceptions and educating ourselves about the issues can we achieve justice for rape victims.

(via sixpencesoulcake)

Source: misandryspice

- #rape
- #rape culture
- #misogyny
- #sexism
- #tw:rape
9 months ago > misandryspice
169
Permalink

Q:Hey! I noticed you rebloged something from PoN not too long ago. Due to our queue system, you'll get our response in about two weeks. That having been said, MRA forums will tend to be quite frustrating; it'd be like an egalitarian or MRA or even a libfem going to radfemhub. Could you give me the name of the MRA forum you're trying to deal with? Additionally, we'd be glad to engage you on points if you wish.

1spoopyjerk

No thanks, I would not like to tell you the name of the MRA forum.

And thanks for the heads up that it will take two weeks to respond, I’ll mark my calendar. I considered my reblog an attempt to engage you on points, if there’s another avenue I should pursue, let me know.

I want to make something clear right now, because I have this terrible feeling we’ll be corresponding more frequently in the future.

I do not hate men. I have men in my life who I look up to, who I love, who inspire me and who I respect greatly.

However.

I also know a great deal of people who are not cisgendered men that I love, deeply, and who I wish the best for and who I want to help in whatever way I can. If that means being belligerant and noisy sometimes, then so be it. I cannot speak for anyone, but I can speak up, in particular if there are younger people afraid to respond to such arguments, or who are too angry to formulate a response or want to but just don’t know how to.

Again, I cannot speak for them. But I can speak.

I realize that you have dealt with feminists in the past. I realize you think you know how this is going to play out. But I do not have the capacity within me anymore to get upset or be shocked by something a mens rights activist or a masculinist or whatever you would like to call yourself this week says or does.

I have seen much worse.

Part of my reasoning for arguing when I know that there is very little chance it will change your opinions or outlook at all is because I do not want you to think that you can say something and have it go unchallenged. I want to contest your representation - and perhaps your belief - of feminists as “hysterical,” “radical,” uninformed, what have you.

Again, I don’t hate men. I don’t hate you, I don’t hate - or at least aspire to not hate - anyone. I hate ignorance, and I hate elitism, and I hate bullying. I hate condescension and silence.

And I hate oppression.

View Separately

derpjerk:

megaparsecs:

TW: SUICIDE, SELF HARM, MISOGYNY

permutationofninjas:

This has been sitting in our drafts for a few weeks now, and I still can’t really find the words to describe it. Just look at it. It speaks for itself. This is “privilege”, hmm? Look at all those het cis white males, simply basking in the joy that is their station in life. Except for the overwhelming number of suicides, a higher rate than any other demographic.

This chart came from a class I took, and we took particular interest in the spike at the end, from the mid-seventies up. The theory goes that white males commit suicide in their twilight years largely because they can no longer work or indeed do anything physically strenuous. They’re no longer useful to society and their only value — physical soundness and labour — has now been taken from them by age. Think about that for a second. Society is driving men to kill themselves because they no longer have any value as workers.

This is not even close to a problem for the women. Because society is so much more lenient on a woman for not wanting or being able to work, her retirement years are spent with a sense of accomplishment and contentment.

Male privilege is never having to lose your wife, because you’ll have killed yourself before she goes.

Hi! I’ve noticed a lot of posts by MRAs on the subject of male vs. female rates of suicide, and I even noticed that you answered an anon question about suicide attempt rates vs. “successful” suicides. However! I thought perhaps some more information on the subject would help you to form a more comprehensive opinion.

Actually, it’s noted in “Understanding Troubled Minds: A Guide to Mental Illness and Its Treatment” that the risk of suicide raises for all people, regardless of gender, past 65. “The risk of suicide increases with age, those over sixty-five having the highest rate of any age group.” (Bloch and Singh, 257)

And, although it’s been noted to you before, suicide rates for men could likely be higher because “Men are apt to resort to more violent methods such as hanging, shooting, drowning and jumping, whereas women tend to poison themselves by taking excessive doses of prescribed or illicit drugs.” (Bloch and Singh, 257)

Women also suffer from a much higher rate of self harm than men do, as Bloch and Singh note in their list of characteristics of those who self harm: “They tend to be late adolescents, young adults, women (in a ratio of 3 to 1), single or divorced.” (264)

And, as I’m sure you are aware, “Depression is much more likely to be diagnosed in women than in men, the ratio being about 2:1. This has been the case in 30 countries over a period of 40 years.” (“Abnormal Psychology” by David S. Holmes, 195)

Holmes dives deeper into the reasons behind the prevalence of depression in women as well:

It has also been found that women were more frequently exposed to more of the factors that have been shown to be related to depression, such as low education, low income, current illness, and recent illness… Furthermore, a variety of psychological variables such as self-esteen, locus of control, and stressful life events were found to be related to depression… (195)

And again, the difference in male and female suicide is elucidated on:

Women are three times more likely to attempt suicide than men, but men are three times more likely to succeed in committing suicide. The reason for the sex difference in attempted suicide is not clear, but it may be that women are more likely to suffer from depression than men, and depression plays a major role in suicide. (Holmes, 210)

But beyond that, the amount of suicide and suicide attempts by transgendered individuals is terribly, terribly high - “A staggering forty-one percent of transgender people in the United States have attempted suicide,” says LiveScience. In an extended report on transgender and non-traditional gender people in the United States, it was found that the rates of suicide or attempted suicide for those bullied, harrassed, or expelled from school due to gender identity went up to 51%. Respondents to this study who were unemployed also attempted suicide at a rate of 51%. Doubtless, suicide rates are also high for intersex individuals, thought it was really hard for me to find any statistics or reports specifically on those who were intersex.

It probably wouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that lesbian, bisexual, and gay youths also have higher rates of attempted suicide than their heterosexual classmates. This document quotes a study from Eisenberg and Resnick in 2006 that

found that LGB students in grades 9 and 12 were significantly more likely to have attempted suicide than their heterosexual peers. 52.4% of LB females and 29.0 percent of GB males had attempted suicide. The percentages of non-GLB females and males who had attempted suicide were 24.8 and 12.6 percent respectively. (15)

It seems clear that, among all of these groups the group that is most affected by suicide is transgender, nonbinary, agender, intersex, and genderqueer people - compare that stat of 41% to the general rate of suicide in the population, which is 1.6%. That is one fucking hell of a difference.

IN CONCLUSION, reasons for and rates of suicide have a lot of different factors, and to point to one chart from one study from 1992 and to claim that cis heterosexual men are highly disadvantaged in this area, to point to this one chart and say, “this isn’t even close to a problem for women,” is a gross over simplification. The lost of ANY human life, however, is a great tragedy, and something I wish on no one.

If any of these stats are wrong, or if anyone has any additional information, please please call me out on it, I’d rather be wrong than inaccurate.

You’re being quite mistaken about what “This is not even close to a problem for the women.” is referring to. It’s referring to the previous paragraph, as the next sentence clarifies: “because society is so much more lenient on a woman for not wanting or being able to work, her retirement years are spent with a sense of accomplishment and contentment.”

I neither agree nor disagree with this sentiment, but you are fundamentally misunderstanding the post.

Naw, I don’t really think I am. Besides, the increase in suicide and suicide attempts in old age is equitable across all genders, as far as I’m able to figure.

(via 1spoopyjerk)

Source: permutationofninjas

Q:So you call someone a 'condescending asshole' through inbox... yet act like a condescending asshole yourself. SMASH-TEH-PATRIARCHY LOGIC

Anonymous

im tired of being nice about shit. im tired of being told that im less of a person, that i have it easy, that this is my fault some how.

im tired of watching people younger than myself get attacked

im not even mad anymore im just so tired

i dont think i was smug. maybe an asshole. but tone is hard to convey over the internet, so maybe to you thats how i sounded

i cant speak for anybody but i can speak up

in summation:

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signal boost; backdoor anti-abortion bill motion in Parliament rn

“In just 48 hours, our MPs will debate a Conservative motion that the Canadian Medical Association, representing 70,000 doctors, is calling a ‘backdoor’ attempt to criminalize abortion.[1,2]

[TW: Slurs] The Word “Pussy”

[TW: Slurs] The Word “Pussy”

[TW: Slurs] The Word “Pussy”

[TW: Slurs] The Word “Pussy”

Q:So you call someone a 'condescending asshole' through inbox... yet act like a condescending asshole yourself. SMASH-TEH-PATRIARCHY LOGIC

About

“In just 48 hours, our MPs will debate a Conservative motion that the Canadian Medical Association, representing 70,000 doctors, is calling a ‘backdoor’ attempt to criminalize abortion.^[1,2]