User:Queenfeline/Projectproposal

proposed proposals
Graduate proposal guidelines

potential glossary

What do you want to make?

WORD
Personal reflection

How I found out that term/word is sexist. How I was using it without really thinking about it

How is it used today? (everyday speech, media, popular culture +examples)

Research

Does it demean, empower, exclude, or stereotype? Does it differ by region, age, or social context? What assumptions about gender, sexuality, or power does this word carry? Who benefits from its use? Who is harmed or silenced by it?

Etymology and Historical Context – Where does the word origins? How did it change over time?

(including visuals like screenshots/photos from old dictionaries or from social media / highlighting and scribbles)

Reclaiming

how have feminists or marginalized groups resisted or redefined the term? Is the term irredeemable and why? +examples on how to use the word in the future (scribbles/ handwriting over the dictionary entry with my new learned definition)

Comments/ Discussion

I would like if it not just a classical list of comments but a wall where they can put post-its or something like that

This project emerges from a personal realization: as a woman, I have unconsciously reproduced sexist patterns in the way I speak and think. I felt alienated from my own language because I was saying things I don't want to say and that I position myself against very strongly. So realizing that I actively uphold the oppression against women myself everyday was a shock. I want other people to see the sexism in language and take an active part in changing that. So I am thinking about making a feminist glossary with words from our everyday vernacular that I realized hold sexism (e.g. bitch, bossy, to have the balls to do smth., feisty, cunt). There will be an introduction about the topic on the homepage (what it is and what it seeks to do) and why it is important to think about language as a feminist tool to reclaim power. I also would like to have a personal reflection about what the process of compiling and making this glossary has taught me, how it changed the way I see language and the way I speak. The navigation to the entries is still unclear, it could be a list, a map, pictures, drawings... Each entry will unpack how a word reinforces hierarchy and how we can change that. Starting with a personal story on how I used the word before and how I found out its sexist meaning (through etymology, usage, connotation), and then offer new, reclaimed or more inclusive ways of implementing that word (plus quotes from cool books?). I want to make room for a discussion or contributions to that word or topic in form of a comment section (or how else?). Because language only works if the people you speak to, have the same understanding of the word. So I want to give people a chance to exchange their thoughts and give them the opportunity to make or shift meaning.

The goal of this project is to see language as a tool that can be worked with and changed. I want to start exchange and discussions around (sexist) language. And i hope to inspire people to question their own use of certain words or expressions. I wish for the glossary to become a critical and self-reflective tool to expose hidden bias in our vernacular and make people feel empowered to start a shift in meaning.

There is also going to be a tool for printing. You can select the words you find interesting / useful / important and make a .pdf that you can print and make a little zine out of.

I want to make it easy to share and so well explained, that everyone can understand it and no one feels excluded. I think it is very important that we keep the discourse accessible, so people know what it i about and what they can do about it.

IMPORANT NOTE: I don't want to dictate meaning, I want to raise awareness! I want to invites others into the process of unlearning, questioning, and rewriting.

How do you plan to make it?

Collecting words and terms + ask other people to contribute (public moments)

document my process of un-/re-learning

come up with a structure for the entries

actually write the entries

Think about the layout of the website

make prototypes and test how people experience them/ get feedback

edit the entries

always stay in exchange with other people along the way

What is your timetable?

(Start with coding the website) thinking of a layout

collect words and write the entry

Write the introduction / guidelines for submitting

For the first public moment: let people contribute to it, doesn't have to be the website yet. Let it grow over time with more and more words and contributions.

I would also love to make a book version of it at some point closer to graduation to have a physical version of it. (add dates when printed to it so people know its only a extract from a specific moment of time.)

Why do you want to make it?

Why make it includes two main questions. First, why should one concern oneself with words and language? and second, why make a glossary?.

To answer the first question: Words hold power. Words help us make sense of our experiences. Words make our experiences communicable. Language is a human tool for organization, so inherently language is always a reflection of the society we find ourselves in. Our society is made by men for men, and everyone who does not identify with that is excluded and oppressed in one or many ways. To understand in what ways this exclusion and oppression takes place means gaining knowledge in how to fight it. So in using certain words we can reclaim power over the man-made language. Speaking is about representation. Who is allowed to speak and who is listened to? Who defines meaning and how does language reflect and reinforces power dynamics? Feminists are deeply concerned with language and linguistic to be able to speak and be heard in that and many other discourses. I also learned in researching this topic, that there are so many hidden sexist structures in our vernacular, that we uphold our own oppression without even noticing it. So i want to make people notice in themselves and in others how and in what ways language is used to suppress women and how we can actively fight that.

To answer the second question: A dictionary claims to be neutral and encompasses every word ever. Even though there surely is a moment of deciding which words to put in and how to describe them, which cannot inherently be objective. Anyways, a glossary doesn't claim this neutrality and is in a classical sense a list of terms and words that are special to a certain context and that may be misunderstood (in that specific context) without explanation. I also see it as a moment to change the point of view on a word and recontextualise it. So what happens to a glossary if we abandon objectivity and embrace subjectivity? What if we let the lived experiences define our words and how we use them?

So all in all I really hope that on the way to a more equal society, i can contribute my little piece to the pie and help the progress of building a language that is more inclusive and representative of all kinds of experiences not just mens. I want to help people notice the ways they're keeping up the sexist system and how to change that.

Who can help you and how?

I know that will need help in coding from my classmates and tutors. My friends, and basically everyone I know, can help in contributing to the database, adding words and definitions / quotes / anything that comes to mind. I also set up a little list on the cord board for people to leave words that should be in a feminist glossary.

I want to reach out to Michelle Teran, Ali Sahin from WdKA to get in touch and talk. They helped making the wor(l)dings book which is also a glossary and i think they might have some useful and interesting insights and opinions.

Relation to previous practice

It combines my interests in language and words and the feminist fight for equality. I find it so fascinating to research words and find out where they come from and what they really mean, how meaning changes over time and with the context we use it in. And i was shook when I first learned how much sexism hides in the language and words I use almost daily. What I wanted to express and what I really said were different things and that feeling of alienation got me into learning more about it and changing the ways in which i speak and the importance and power language holds.

Relation to a larger context

I want to contribute my tiny little piece to the fight for equality. I guess doing something is better than nothing even if it only reaches a small amount of people.

References/bibliography

Wordslut – Amanda Montell

Wor(l)ding: A Harvested Glossary for Social Justice in Arts Education and Beyond – Michelle Teran, Ali Sahin, Kari Robertson, Pablo Lerma

Feminism and Linguistic Theory – Daborah Cameron

Keywords for Radicals – Kelly Fritsch, Clare O'Connor, AK Thompson

potential thesis

notes

What do you WANT to write? (what will the text
be about? What do you want to explore?
Be clear about HOW you want to tell your story.

Outline 3 key issues you want to explore:
1. The power that language holds
2. how sexist language is and how it shapes the way we live
3. The power of reclaiming words as an activist act

I want to write an analytical essay. I want to dive into the sociolinguistics and uncover how sexist and man-made our vernacular is and how we can take a step into changing that. Language is about representation. Who you speak about and how, directly affects that groups position in society and their experience in this world. I want to write about the phenomenon that female words get devalued over time and why that is. Adding to that i want to write about the active work of reclaiming these words to reclaim power (for ourselves and ultimately how we're seen and treated in society). Words literally create the world around us and has an impact on or experiences in this world.

Chapter outline (what do i expect to find?)

1. The power language holds

Here i want to show how the words we use literally create the world around us. Language gives names to our experiences. It reflects and reinforces our believes, the existing power structures and structures of oppression. Language is strategically used to exclude certain groups from the societal discourse (e.g. in form of linguistic alienation).

Furthermore i want to write about the phenomenon that words who get connected to females, experience an devaluation over time. What seems like happens by accident is a reflection on the sexist society we find ourselves in. In comparison to that, 'male' words almost always experience an revaluation. Why is that?

2. How sexist language shapes our lives

I want to uncover fields of everyday life that hold more sexism then we expect or are aware of. From address terms to curse words. Understanding that language itself is not sexist but the way we use it.

3. The powerful act of reclaiming language

This chapter is gonna contain how the reclaiming of a 'female' word needs active work to experience an revaluation.

holy shit is is all still way to broad...

Uh maybe i do all this on the example of one word! (e.g diva/bitch/cunt...) Then the structure would more likely look like that:

1. The etymology of the word

So to say a glimpse in the history of the word. How is has been used throughout the years and how the dictionary defined then and now.

2. De- and revaluation

De- and revaluation of words in general. So how and why does that happen? Then more specifically on the example on the word. How and why did it happen in this case?

3. The act of reclaiming a word for oneself and the societal consequences

Transitioning into: How 'female' words need active reclaiming in order to experience a revaluation. What reclaiming is and how it works (on the example on language).

TO–DO – specify what i mean with 'female' word (wordslut) –

FEEDBACK

–More clarity on the submissions!

–What feminist context? What context? Wie einkreisen? More intentional and smaller

–Words that have personal meaning - that are being understood / affect you in your life – Glossary for a specific place (online/offline) ?

–Public moment: collect in low tech form and let people contribute in other forms than website

–What makes mine different? What do I want out of this????

–Fred idea: Make the glossary a plug in? Make it to adapt to other applications

–Whats up with Scotland – Glasgow ? Why so different?

–Claiming/ reclaiming also happens in right wing/extremist circles

How has the feminist reclamation of the word “cunt” transformed a misogynistic insult into a symbol of empowerment, and what does this transformation reveal about language and power?

Intro

Introducing the upcoming chapters briefly:

First, the relationship between language, power and representation. Why is language a feminist issue? How is it used to uphold and reinforce power structures? Who gets to speak and who is spoken about (in what way)?

Second, the cultural taboo around “cunt”, its history (etymology) and its significance. When did this word emerge? What was the 'original' meaning and how did it change over time? How did the word became a site of misogyny? What is the “problem” reclamation is responding to?

Third, the active fight for reclaiming a word. How does reclaiming work? Who gets to reclaim? How does the reclaiming of cunt teaches us who controls meaning?

State what i wish to transport with this essay: how reclaiming language reclaims power. Showing how reclaiming is a strategic act of resistance that exposes how meaning is socially constructed (embedding chapter one) and can be rewritten / changed.

Chapter 1

This chapter explores how language shapes and sustains power relations.

Who gets to speak, who is spoken about, and in what way? Through feminist linguistic theory, it will uncover how everyday speech patterns and word meanings reflect patriarchal values and how this creates linguistic inequality.

Deborah Cameron – how language doesn’t just reflect reality but creates it. How language is a weapon, used by the powerful to oppress their subordinates. How words define social visibility. Being “unnamed” or “misnamed” is a form of erasure / silencing / invisibility.

Chapter 2

This chapter explores the etymology of the word “cunt”.

What did the word mean throughout history and how did the once neutral anatomical term (referring to the female genitals) become one of the most reviled words in the English language?

– The connection between linguistic taboos and the societal control over women’s bodies and sexuality. How the changing attitudes toward sexuality, modesty, and female anatomy under patriarchy influenced the change in meaning, resulting in silencing of female sexuality, alienation from the female body, and internalized shame. (How there is a broader linguistic phenomenon where female-coded terms become devalued for example mistress, madam, hussy. But maybe thats too much)

Chapter 3

This chapter explores how feminist movements and thinkers have reclaimed “cunt” as a term of empowerment and political resistance, and what this process reveals about who controls meaning.

How does semantic reclamation work? –> How marginalized groups reappropriate derogatory terms.

– Example: Inga Muscio’s Cunt: A Declaration of Independence (1998) and in todays pop-culture / internet

(The intersectional issues: race, class, sexuality. Who feels empowered and who alienated by reclamation? The critiques of white feminism and inclusivity within linguistic activism)

Making clear / showing that words have constructed meaning, made through societal consensus and not inherent meanings set in stone. Connecting to chapter 1, how meaning and power are connected and how reclaiming language means reclaiming power. Show how reclamation is also a refusal to let patriarchal discourse dictate women’s self-definition.

Conclusion

Bringing back the research question and stating a short and concise summary of the main arguments from the text. How feminist linguistic activism does not just change words, but changes the worlds we inhabit through them.

Glossary

My thesis needs (of course) a glossary duh! In here will we words like: woman / semantic reclamation / reappropriation / semantic derogation / tbc...