Category Archives: Sociolinguistics

Why Is It So Difficult To Talk About The Nexus Between Alcohol Consumption, and Sex That Is Uncomfortable, Unwanted, or Worse?

A while back a college student named Liz Funk posted an op-ed at Women’s e-news that drew a lot of criticism because it was rather appallingly framed in a way that made rape victims seem at least partly responsible for … Continue reading

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The Cringe Book

Here’s the Cringe book webpage, which says: We’re looking for brave souls willing to share their old diaries, journals, letters, notes, songs, poems… anything you wrote during the crushing misery of adolescence and then saved in a hidden box at … Continue reading

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Today, In Honor of Dr. King, Remember That The First “C” In SCLC Stands For Christian

The American Civil Rights Movement was born and nurtured in the African American churches of the South, and the first President of the SCLC was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Today, try to remember that while a whole lot of … Continue reading

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“Project Implicit”

“Here you will have the opportunity to assess your conscious and unconscious preferences for over 90 different topics ranging from pets to political issues, ethnic groups to sports teams, and entertainers to styles of music. At the same time, you … Continue reading

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The Genders of Milk and Glue

Did you know that Elsie the Borden trademark, and Elmer of Elmer’s Glue, were married? From Elmer’s.com one learns: “Elsie the Cow became Borden’s very popular “Spokescow” in the late 1930’s. She was a big hit at the 1939 New … Continue reading

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Some Thoughtful Words About Language

At Shakespeare’s Sister. And at By Neddie Jingo. And at Tom Watson. Update: See also Echidne of the Snakes, and Zuky and Reappropriate (thanks Ms. Jared!) and here is an excellent comment by “thebewilderness” from a thread at an earlier, … Continue reading

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Can You Guess Who The Judge Was?

In affirming a jury verdict in a sexual harassment case (though he grants the defendant a new trial if the prevailing plaintiff is unwilling to accept a much smaller punitive damages award than the jury accorded her), he wrote: Penters … Continue reading

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We’ll Laugh When We Are Equal

“[I]t doesn’t take great courage to bash someone everybody else is also already bashing.” That is a quote from Echidne of the Snakes, in a post in which she also writes: …[S]uppose now that I could morph into two versions, … Continue reading

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One Weird Mobile Billboard

Stupidly, I thought it was a joke. It wasn’t: … No Democrat has won the district in more than 30 years, but Paccione is putting up such a challenge that Bush came to town to try and give Musgrave a … Continue reading

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“Great Feminism. Great Times.”

The title of this post is a product of the Advertising Slogan Generator. Here are some more: It’s Shake ‘n’ Feminism, and I Helped. Feminism Tested, Mother Approved. Come See the Softer Side of Feminism. Gotta Lotta Feminism. The Feminism … Continue reading

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Judge Holds That Exposure Law is Gender Specific

According to this Yahoo News article: A judge dismissed an indecent exposure charge against a woman accused of disrobing in front of a 14-year-old boy, saying the law only applies to men. Superior Court Judge Robert W. Armstrong said earlier … Continue reading

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“Secret Asian Man”

Cleaner version here. “Secret Asian Man” is also the name of the cartoonist’s blog. Blog found via Sour Duck, who got it from Y. Carrington.

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Meow?

Below is a post copied in its entirety (all three words of it) from Eschaton.   Make a quick guess about the gender of the person Atrios accuses of jealousy, then see if you are correct by clicking on the … Continue reading

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That Date Rape Metaphor

Here’s a post, in its entirety, by a Supposedly Liberal Dude: Welcome to DateRape…I’m Chris Wallace Shorter Glenn Reynolds: Defending oneself is counterproductive and only makes you look angry so you should just lay back and enjoy it, bitch. If … Continue reading

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What’s In A Name?

Shark-Fu, a.k.a. Pamela, will tell you.

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Politics and “Date Rape”

I need to start by noting that I have contributed money to Ned Lamont’s Senate campaign and I hope he wins. Though Joe Lieberman has been better than many Democrats (including Harry Reid) on reproductive rights issues, he has been … Continue reading

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The Languages of Feminism

Heart has a post up at Women’s Space/The Margins responding to people who mock words like”wimmin,”“womyn,”and”herstory.”Below is an excerpt: For oppressed people, language is always a site of resistance. The words we use every day unavoidably evidence their origination in … Continue reading

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“The men and women who protect us should not have to fear lawsuits filed by terrorists because they are doing their jobs.”

That would be a quote from this speech.

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Rethinking the Ova, the Sperm and the Metaphors of Reproduction

All the way back in 1992 Discover published a story called The Aggressive Egg, which discussed the work of anthropologist Emily Martin. Below is an excerpt: …As she began her background studies, Martin was surprised to find that popular literature, … Continue reading

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Marking Ourselves

An interesting post at Feministing references this NYT article about female politicians and choices they make about “Mrs.” and “Ms.” and the last names they use. The Feministing post draws the reader’s attention to this Op-Ed piece by Deborah Tannen … Continue reading

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What’s the Male Equivalent of “Heathers”?

“Heathers” was a satirical movie about high school. As this site notes: The film’s main characters are the Heathers, the cruel and beautiful leader, Heather Chandler, secretly jealous Heather Duke, and the weak, dependent Heather McNamara. The clique also includes … Continue reading

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Huh?

I like reading Digby’s posts at Hullabaloo. I’m usually in accord with the views expressed, and the writing is generally excellent. So what’s the deal with this excerpt from the 4/30/06 “Heavens To Betsy” post: Peter Daou has some thoughts … Continue reading

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Bitches and Bags and Blogs

What does it mean when a man says another is his “bitch”? To me it implies that the man is his “woman,” which is intended to be very insulting. Calling a man a woman is contextually negative because being a … Continue reading

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“Why Natalee Holloway Is Lucky She Is Not Around to Make Accusations”

An interesting article (though maybe the title is a little harsh) available here, at Newhounds. Below are excerpts: Natalee Holloway is lucky she is not around to make accusations against anybody who may have done her harm. Why? Just look … Continue reading

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“Fuck” the Law Review Article

Yes, “Fuck” is the title as well as topic of this article by Prof. Christopher M. Fairman of Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. I’m not too demure to blog it, unlike shrinking violets Brian Leiter and Michael Froomkin (or … Continue reading

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That’s Some Party

A man named Ramesh Ponnuru wrote a book about the Democratic Party, originally titled “The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life,” but after a teeny tiny bit of criticism, he changed … Continue reading

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Boneheaded

These are interesting times for folks immersed in Intellectual Property law and policy, as you might discern from this excerpt from a post by Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing: “EFF and other public interest groups are back at the United … Continue reading

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