2 posts tagged “gender”
This is an op-ed piece I wrote for the Argosy on language.
I am about to propose something vastly out of character. I am going to propose that we make a change to the English language.
People who know me know that I am extremely conservative when it comes to English. In my first year I had several friends who only half affectionately called me Mr. English because I constantly corrected their mistakes. Therefore, what I am about to suggest is, for me, a huge deviation from my standard mode of being.
We have all heard teachers tell us, usually in a rightfully world weary voice, that we should not use “they” as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. Nor, we are told, should we use “their” as a gender-neutral singular possessive pronoun. These teachers are correct, of course. To use “they” and “their” that way is completely incorrect according to the laws of English.
These laws were formed at a less enlightened time when the default gender was male. The universal human could be represented as “he.” It was standard, after all, to refer to the race of “man.” This has, of course, changed. Indeed, few would argue that this change is not for the better. However, this change came, it seems to me, without any serious look at the linguistic side of the matter. Now that the masculine can no longer stand in as the universal human, we are left with the awkward situation of being forced to circumvent our clumsy and archaic system of gendered pronouns.
As it stands, in conversation we are perfectly used to and accepting of “they” and “their” as gender-neutral pronouns. However, in official and academic writings, this is frowned upon. Perhaps it is time, then, to give this one up and accept it.
Consider a situation where something must be discussed using hypothetical gender-neutral people. For example: “When a person must tell another person something that makes him or her uncomfortable, he or she will often try to segue it into conversation by bringing up a topic that he or she has in common with the other, hoping that pleasant conversation will...etc.” I'm making it up as I go, but my point is clear and that was not an extremely murky situation to begin with. It only involved two people. There are other ways to go about writing it, but all of them are clumsy and break up the flow of the writing. In short, they make the writing ugly.
A few new words must be created to reflect the current state of our language as related to gender. We could make words up, of course, but why bother? We already have several words we are used to using in every day speech. I am very cautious about letting anything slip in language, desperate to to cling to English As It Is for as long as it can be clung to. This once, however, I think we should embrace change. It will make our language that much more beautiful.
For my last column for this October I am going to take a moment to discuss gender tropes and related issues in webcomics. Gender portrayals are actually an issue in mainstream comics and this carries over into webcomics, mainstream comics often being the inspiration for many webcomic creators.
This is most obvious in superhero comics where women are often portrayed wearing skin tight outfits in poses strait out of pornographic magazines. The root of this problem, I believe, comes from the fact that comics generally show an idealized world. Whether this is an ideal held by the writer or artist, or whether a more cultural one, the problem seems to be how men and women are idealized. Women are often shown in submissive poses, or with their chests thrust out. All too often they are drawn with enormous breasts the likes of which almost do not exist in nature
It is argued by some that women are not singled out for this type of representation. Indeed, while women may have abnormally large breasts and unnaturally thin waists, men tend to have gigantic muscles and enormously broad shoulders. However, while a male character may be “beefcake,” he is powerful in his sex appeal. On the other hand, women are often presented as submissive or vulnerable, even seductive in an almost demonic sense. While, in superhero comics especially, a woman's nipples can be seen through her shirt, a bare chested man almost never has visible nipples. If a man's crotch has a bulge to it, this only serves to emphasize his power. Women, then, are idealized as objects while men are idealized as agents.
The fact that many webcomic artists are amateurs spending their free time to work on their projects often, though not always, spares webcomics from this particular issue. However, these categories sadly carry in other ways into more than one webcomic I have encountered. The biggest problem I see is female sexuality as written by male authors. In its most innocent form, it is simply tongue-in-cheek fun poking at romantic interactions between men and women. Unfortunately, many male authors go down the path of eroticizing female sexuality to the point of fantasy. This is especially the case when it comes to lesbianism (if that is even an ism). With a few exceptions, notably Penny and Aggie, which I have the pleasure of reviewing next week, I cringe when I see a male author trying to portray a lesbian. Too often it becomes a portrayal of a little boy fantasy. I am particularly weary of seeing the bisexual nymphomaniac. Flipside's Brion Foulke, I'm talking to you.
A final thing to mention is the use of rape as a story device. Rape is often used as a short cut to add depth to a character or plot, and to create conflict and motivations. The problem is that the results are almost always shallow and tasteless, belittling the experiences of actual victims. Sometimes it is used to try to deal with the issues involved, but it is difficult to do this is a way that is sensitive to all experiences and emotions. It is inadvisable even to use it as a way of dealing with one's own experiences, as it is such an emotion laden subject. In general, unless one is a therapist trained to deal with such things, it is advisable to steer away from the subject of sexual assault all together.
This is not to say that all webcomics handle gender badly. Indeed, the community is often very open minded, and many authors use their comics to explore issues of gender and sexuality, a few noteworthy ones being Abstract Gender, Misfile, and El Goonish Shive. Gender is fun to play with, just be careful about what games you play.
