Language That Perpetuates and the Different Feminisms

While the substitutions of “feminism” for “race,” “women” for “blacks,” “feminist” for “racial,” and “sex/gender” for “color” do not fit seamlessly into Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s essay, they do certainly fit well enough to raise some new questions and bring about some new points. (Note: I also replaced “racism” with “sexism.) Many aspects of Gates Jr.’s essay about race are indeed the same aspects that would be part of an essay about feminism through its discussions of the implications of the different types of race/feminism and the way that the language we use can perpetuate racist and sexist ideas.

Throughout the beginning of his essay, Gates, Jr. introduces quotes and ideas from Hippolyte-Adolphe Taine. One in particular that I found intriguing discussed the abounding roles of feminism: “Lest we misunderstand the naturally determining role of [feminism], Taine concludes that it is ‘no simple spring but a kind of lake, a deep reservoir wherein other springs have, for a multitude of centuries, discharged their several streams’” (Gates, Jr. 3). In terms of feminism, this quote means that feminism has grown throughout the centuries. This inevitably occurs as advances in feminism occur. Women used to be forbidden from showing their ankles; women used to not be able to vote; women used to be shunned from fields of academia such as science and math (which they still are, although increasingly less, today). Clearly, feminism encompasses a wide variety of different issues that women undoubtedly experience. Feminism is like a deep reservoir that contains all of these issues, and the resolution of one in the past doesn’t mean that all of the degradations against women have been fixed. Issues today in feminism, such as a woman not always having choices over her body, the proven wage gap, and general oppressions by men against women, still abound. Some feminists focus mostly on other issues such as racial sexism, fat-shaming, and transgender rights. This is evidence of the different types of feminism that are focused on. Just as Gates, Jr. refers to “‘the white race,’ ‘the black race,’ ‘the Jewish race’ or ‘the Aryan race’” (Gates, Jr. 4), one can refer to similar varieties of feminism. This reminds me of our readings from Seyla Benhabib, who discussed the downfalls of standpoint feminism and promoted the unity of women and their fight for equality together. In any case, feminism is like a deep reservoir because of its history and because of the multitude of feminisms that exist.

As a woman at an American public university, I can certainly attest to hearing sexist language in my life. People do not always realize “how certain forms of difference and the languages we employ to define those supposed differences not only reinforce each other but tend to create and maintain each other” (Gates, Jr. 15). Some sexist language is so engrained in our vocabulary that we do not even realize when we are using it. This deeply perpetuates the sexist nature of our society and is a great burden to feminism. One example of this is the word “feminist” itself. Some people think that the word “feminist” is too radical for them to relate to because of certain negative connotations that come with the word. Apparently, some people are completely turned off and disgusted by this “radical feminism” in which girls apply for positions of power, are perhaps overly careful in a world where rape and assault occur every day, or don’t shave their naturally-growing body hair. The connotations behind “feminism” may themselves be negative, and the use of the word “feminism” in our language without explaining these differences maintains the differences in what people perceive feminism to be as opposed to what it really is. When feminism is misunderstood, sexism is perpetuated. This occurs because feminism can be viewed from different terministic screens. In “Terministic Screens,” Kenneth Burke asserts that once someone decides upon one terministic screen, they will “proceed to track down the kinds of observation implicit in the terminology [they] have chosen, whether [their] choice of terms was deliberate or spontaneous” (Burke, 47). There are many terministic screens through which to view feminism, which were discussed in my first paragraph. The issue with terministic screens, like we discussed in the story of the elephant and the blind men that we discussed in class, is that some concepts are only understood through one terministic screen instead of considering other perspectives. Many times, feminism is only seen through the radicalized terministic screen, which often carries with it negative connotations.

I believe that sexism is also perpetuated through the use of more explicit sexually-charged language such as “hoe,” “slut,” etc. I see these words being used in my environment every day. For example, I was recently entitled to a themed party called “Workout Bros and Yoga Hoes.” It is implicit that the females at the party are supposed to dress like “yoga hoes.” What does that even mean? Do we really have to sexualize the activity of stretching? The use of this negative language as if it’s nothing perpetuates the cycle of sexism even more. Both men and women also use these sexual derogatory words to describe a woman who has “too much” sex, as if it’s anyone else’s business to discuss that. I don’t have to go into the crystal-clear double standard that is involved in these words, but I will say that more often than not, men use these words to degrade women when they are doing the same thing as men. The incredibly casual use of these words that can have incredibly devastating consequences is unacceptable and just add to “the correlation of ‘[women]’ and ‘stupid’ that Kant posits as if it were self-evident” (Gates, Jr. 11). These words are “futile and dangerous because of their further inscription of new and bizarre stereotypes” (Gates, Jr. 13).

Overall, I believe that Gates, Jr.’s argument about race is incredibly applicable to feminism. In particular, the roles and types of feminism are similar to the roles and types of race and racism. Additionally, people’s use of certain language perpetuates both the ideas of racism and sexism. Just as black writers have, women “have been drowned artistically by the weight of various modern languages” (Gates, Jr. 13). Perhaps understanding these concepts more comprehensively will cause people to understand the efforts for equality between men and women. However, Gates, Jr. points out that we must remember not the accept a “false premise by assuming that [sexism] would be destroyed once white [sexists] became convinced that we were human, too” (Gates, Jr. 12). 

-Sarah Davis