From gorbman@u.washington.edu Thu Feb 22 13:42:49 1996 Return-Path: Received: from homer22.u.washington.edu by lists.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW96.02/UW-NDC Revision: 2.33 ) id AA05555; Thu, 22 Feb 96 13:42:48 -0800 Received: by homer22.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW96.02/UW-NDC Revision: 2.33 ) id AA71899; Thu, 22 Feb 96 13:42:47 -0800 X-Sender: gorbman@homer22.u.washington.edu Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996 13:42:47 -0800 (PST) From: Claudia Gorbman To: uwtpride@u.washington.edu Subject: Re: language In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Thu, 22 Feb 1996, Jacqueline Weinstock wrote: > To add an alternative interpretation on the use of "husband" and "wife": > I agree with Suzanne that we need to be careful not to deny the > inequities involved in marriage laws, but I still read the terms, > "husband" and "wife" as hopelessly gendered and therefore problemmatic > for all persons who do not fit easily into one of the two accepted > genders in our culture and/or do not form "couple" relatiionships where > these two genders are equally represented (with one person from each > category!) So when I hear "husband" and "wife" I hear someone taking for > granted a privilege/right that not all of us have access to, and I hear a > reinforcement of our dualistic gender system... > Still, interesting ideas to think about re these terms, and > "homosexual," etc. Any other terms to consider? What about "butch" and > "femme"? I love the terms "butch" and "femme". I find them as funny as "husband" and "wife." About whom are we concerned? It seems to me that the use of such loaded words depends wholly on whether one is inside the group or outside. Just as African-Americans can call each other nigger, or homeboy, but no non-black had better use such terms. The present dialogue is so *serious* and *earnest.* Very Seventies. .