[techtalk] Re: techtalk digest, Vol 1 #457 - 14 msgs

[Kai MacTane]

At 5/14/01 10:44 AM , A Kozic wrote:

>I just finished reading Egalia's Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg
>(ISBN:0-93118-8342). It is a "White Man's Burden" style role reversal,
>covering the "masculinist movement" in a matriarchal society. They use
>"wim"/"wom", "menwim"/"menwom", and "huwom" (Though "wom" is a perfectly
>acceptable way to refer to "huwoms" in general.)
>
>My favorite modification was "Lordies & Gentlewim".

This reminds me of "A Person Paper on Purity in Language", a chapter in 
Douglas Hofstadter's _Metamagical_Themas_. In it, he takes our world, both 
sexist and racist, and swaps the two -isms in a truly shocking and 
thought-provoking way. As is common with Hofstadter, one of the best parts 
is the way he thinks out *all* the little details.

It's also extraordinarily instructive to look at the preceding chapter, 
"Changes in Default Words and Images", which has many fabulously cogent and 
incisive things to say about gender defaults in language and thought.

I highly recommend both chapters (and the entire book) to anyone who hasn't 
read them -- and if you *have* read them, they're worth another look.

                                                 --Kai MacTane
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"It can't rain all the time/Your tears won't fall forever"
                                                 --Hangman's Joke