Radio 4 Word of Mouth - words used to describe women.

[FlamingoAndJohn]

Really interesting, worth a listen.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000l8pf

Yes, that was definitely worth a listen. Very little Genderwang!

Placemarking to listen later.

Thanks for that OP

Great programme. Super transphobic obvs.

Came here to say the same FlamingoAndJohn

A refreshing listen in opposition to the Layla Moran wibble from the night before. Lots of careful and thoughtful use of language in both Nikki and Deborah's delivery, and I noticed quite a lot of the use of 'female' and 'sex'.

They went so close to talking about the dictionary definition of woman I thought for a second they were verging towards controversial territory, but drew back! But still a really good programme, and maybe one to have on in the background in the vicinity of teens etc, with no comment needed. A stark reminder that, whilst we've moved forwards in some ways, some things remain the same for women.

Programme description from link, in case you need a taster before clicking!:
Spinster, slut, bird, cat lady, ladette, hussy, bossy, goddess, wife. Guest presenter Nikki Bedi (sitting in for Michael Rosen) talks to Professor Deborah Cameron about the words used to talk about women.

Deborah Cameron is Professor of Language and Communication at the University of Oxford. In 2007 she published The Myth of Mars and Venus, a general-interest book about language and gender differences. She writes a regular blog - 'Language: a feminist guide' - and occasionally performs as a linguistic stand up comedian.

Really interesting programme - although a shame they didn't (couldn't?) talk about the current ever-expanding definition.
I particularly liked the term slut-dust (although it was a few days ago now so please correct me if I've mis-remembered).

Deborah Cameron does an excellent blog. This recent one, about "isolated incidents" of violence against women, is well worth a read:

debuk.wordpress.com/2020/07/11/isolated-incidents/

Very interesting listen, thanks.
I got the impression Nikki Bedi was saying gender throughout (some BBC directive?) but Deborah Cameron said sex when she meant sex and gender when she meant gender.

Thank you for posting that blog, RoyalCorgi, it's excellent.

“Genderwang!” is amazing @nauticant

They went so close to talking about the dictionary definition of woman I thought for a second they were verging towards controversial territory, but drew back!

This sentence makes me so despondent, and sad.
That we are reduced to gratitude that a BBC program about words ‘used to describe women’, almost but not quite talked about the dictionary definition, but didn’t because apparently that meaning is now verboten.

It's not my creation DryHeave but love it so much I want others to see it.