A poor choice of words
The Traveler Editorial Board
Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Opinion
Peacock feather earrings and purses designed to look like old-fashioned record albums. Sleek yellow sunglasses and sparkly leather belts.
To judge by the merchandise on sale on Dickson Street during Bikes, Blues & BBQ, "biker style" has evolved beyond leather chaps and black bandanas. But is this evolution a positive one?
Last week, in addition to unexpected and chic accessories, vendors sold bumper stickers and T-shirts imprinted with snarky slogans. These slogans were often witty and frequently funny, but they could also be degrading and derogatory.
When did it become acceptable to refer to women as no more than their reproductive organs? When women started referring to themselves this way?
The bald-faced use of terms once universally accepted as offensive has become too common.
Solo riders and Harley wives aren't the only women who seek to project an image of distorted, inside-out independence by flaunting the physical and playing to the desires of those who seek to objectify women.
Young girls, too, have hijacked formerly disparaging terms and held them hostage in desperate pleas for attention. Facebook walls are plastered with girl-to-girl messages that use these terms affectionately.
The crude, brazen trumpeting of sexual prowess and sexual indifference pays no respect to the personhood of women, to the shared humanity of both sexes.
Women do themselves a disservice when, instead of outright rejecting the use of insulting language, they try to redeem it by using it themselves.
Regardless of who uses it, disgusting language is just that - disgusting.
To judge by the merchandise on sale on Dickson Street during Bikes, Blues & BBQ, "biker style" has evolved beyond leather chaps and black bandanas. But is this evolution a positive one?
Last week, in addition to unexpected and chic accessories, vendors sold bumper stickers and T-shirts imprinted with snarky slogans. These slogans were often witty and frequently funny, but they could also be degrading and derogatory.
When did it become acceptable to refer to women as no more than their reproductive organs? When women started referring to themselves this way?
The bald-faced use of terms once universally accepted as offensive has become too common.
Solo riders and Harley wives aren't the only women who seek to project an image of distorted, inside-out independence by flaunting the physical and playing to the desires of those who seek to objectify women.
Young girls, too, have hijacked formerly disparaging terms and held them hostage in desperate pleas for attention. Facebook walls are plastered with girl-to-girl messages that use these terms affectionately.
The crude, brazen trumpeting of sexual prowess and sexual indifference pays no respect to the personhood of women, to the shared humanity of both sexes.
Women do themselves a disservice when, instead of outright rejecting the use of insulting language, they try to redeem it by using it themselves.
Regardless of who uses it, disgusting language is just that - disgusting.
Be the first to comment on this story