Posted on 05/10/2011 8:03:30 AM PDT by reaganaut1
The assault on the "-man" occupation words predated the latest spasm of feminism. When those two, er, women got that particular bee in their lacy bonnets, they were hitching an ideological ride on an earlier disapproval of the association of work with one's sex.
In the early 1960s, I recall hearing firemen described as "fye-uh fightas" in suburban New York by callers to a local radio talk show. They were calling in to support some action against the City of New York by one of the firemen's unions.
The distinction in the air then was that, to firemen and their wives, it sounded more professional and educated to identify yourself by your technical expertise—fighting fires—rather than as a man doing a job because he was from the working-class caste, as the word "fireman" might imply.
At the same time, for similar reasons, in place of "policeman," a man would describe himself as a "pu-leese aw-fissa," and instead of a "garbage man," he was a "sanitation woika." They're still cops, firemen, and garbagemen to me, and I like 'em just fine. And as you've probably noticed, in private, firemen still call themselves "firemen."
Both feminism and working-class self-consciousness view the idea of work being a function of one's body as limiting to class aspirations: The higher you go on the social scale, the less connection there is between your body and your work. At the end of the day, "firefighters" still put out fires. Meanwhile, feminists . . . I haven't figured out exactly what they do, but it's a lot of talk, and very little work.
Thanks for nothing.
A lot of us don’t have issues with being women.
Well, there’s a wasted life.
I wonder if there are genders in Hell?
The feminist manipulation of language was based on misrepresentations, but was necessary to create the aura of victimhood around women and to provide the feminazis a “basis” for harassing and intimidating people over minutiae so that they would be afraid to raise the bigger issues.
Feminism was manufactured by the left and males interested in women becoming “more available”.
Feminism destroys, and it has a legacy worse than Nazism.
“May it rest in peace.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
Stomach cancer. That’s aggressive.
I don’t mind saying “he or she” at all, but it is one of those points where the cultural marxists came in demanding this change and we all went along with it — why not, we thought? Maybe it was a good idea.
I’ve teased out what I think is one of the tropes of the leftists. Tell people they must do something they already do. Then tell them they must do something that they don’t already do, but would like to do. Then tell them they must do something they don’t care about either way.
Then start telling them they must do something they do not want to do. Frog in the pot.
Fixed it old school style.
In the same fashion they apply it to Arabic, Swahili, Nahual, or Chinese. In short, they don't apply it at all...
the infowarrior
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.