A little feminist blog on language

Onlangs stuitte ik op A little feminist blog on language, waar een pas afgestudeerde masterstudente haar enthousiasme met betrekking tot feministische linguistiek deelt via  blogposts over taal en gender. Hieronder het eerste deel van haar blogpost “How to disregard a women (explorer)”:

"Ever since their first discovery, the polar regions have fascinated humanity. The endless frozen deserts, the blinding snowy white, and the few animals which make this inhospitable climate their home can best be described by one term in particular: extreme. And the ‘extreme’ hardly attracts the tame.

[links: Amelia Hempleman-Adams, 'The Frozen Beauty']

Looking at our traditionally fixed gender roles, it comes as no surprise that the exploration of the Arctic and Antarctic has until recently been the sole preserve of men. Men, according to dominant ideology, are on the mere basis of their sex daring, brave and adventurous, that is, ‘made’ for exploration, while women, on the mere basis of theirs, are meek, fearful and cautious, that is, ‘made’ to stay at home. However, many women have challenged this restrictive stereotype throughout history and continue to challenge it to this day.

Some of our contemporary female explorers are gaining public recognition and have recently appeared in a feature in the Evening Standard to mark their success. But as the title indicates, their achievements do not solely revolve around polar exploration: “Meet the polar babes” (Evening Standard 2011). As the definition shows, a ‘babe’ is both an infantile human: as in “a baby”, and the object of/to man: as in “a sexually attractive young woman” (OD 2012), which fundamentally skews our understanding of female explorers towards their ‘essential’ ineptness as well as their ‘essential’ position within humankind."
 

Klik  hier om de rest van het artikel te lezen. Ook zeer interessant zijn haar berichten “Question of choice”  en “Show me yours”.