Nilsen, Sexism in English: Embodiment and Language 173

SEXISM IN fNGUSH: [MBODIMENT AND lANGUAGE

Aileen Pace Nilsen

SPeakers a.re prone to use the division of ~ale and female as a metaphor for many other · ospet;:ts orlife: ·The differences in language describing and attributed to moles and fe­ r.nales iJiustrotes the swirling effects of culture on language and language on culture. As y¢1.1 rood this piece, think of the many ways tbat the language you speak has been · shaped py the fact that virtually all living creatures ore either male or female.

1 During the late 19608, I lived with my husband and three young children in .. Kabul, Afghanistan.:'This was before the Russian invasion, the Afghan civil · war, and the eventual tal9ng over of the country by the Taleban Islamic move- .. ment and 1ts resolve to return the cquntry" to a strict Islamic dynasty, in which females are not allowed to attend school or work outside their homes. 2 But even when we were there and the country was considered moderate rather than extremist, I was shocked to observe how different were the roles assigned to males and females. The Afghan version of the chaderi prescribed for Moslem women was particularly confining. Women in religious families were reqUired to wear it whenever they were outside their family home, with . th.e.result being ~at most of them didn't venture outside~...... The household help we hired were made' up' .of men, because women 3 could not be employed by foreigners~ Afghan folk stories and were bla­ tantly sexist, as in this : "If you see an old man, sit down and take a lesson; if you see an old woman, throw a stone." · 4 _· But it wasn't only the native culture that made me question women's ·roles, it was also the American community within Afghanistan. . 5 Most of the American women were like myself-wives and mothers whose husbands were either career diplomats, employees of USAID, 9r ·col-: lege professors who had been recruited to work on various contract teams. We were suddenly bereft of our traditional roles. The local economy provided few jobs 'for women and certainly none for foreigners; we were isolated from form~r friends and the social goals we had grown up with. Some of us became alcoholics, others got very good a~ bridge, while still others searched desper­ ately for ways to contribute either to our families or to the Afghans . • 6 When we returned in the fall of 1969 to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, 1 was surprised to find that many other women were also questioning - Aileen Pace Nilsen. Living Language. Needham Heights, Massachusett . . Allyn and Bacon. 1999. 17-183.· (ASU English Ed) J1'f : .. · : ·...... --- -· --;-~-. I

- - . :•· The: Afghan chaderi is partic·ufarly confining. The fact'that w~meri must put one 0~· whenever they" are outside of their homes dis¢ol,lrog~~-them from ventwing f9rth. , · . :- · te eXpectations they had grown up with. Since I had }?een an _English ·major hen I was in college~ I decided that for my part in the feminist movement I· ottld stq.<;iy the English language and see what it could- t~U me about sex~ m. I started readmg a desk dictio!lary and making note cards on every en- y that seemed to tell something different about male and fem_ale. "I soon had .. dog-eared dictionary, along with a· collection of note cards filling two shoe )Xes. The first thing I learned was that I couldn't study the lan.guage without ~tting involved in socia1 issues. Language. and society ai:e as intertwined as :lUcken and an egg. The language a culture uses· is telltale evidence of the tlues and beliefs of that culture. ~nci b~al.lse ther~ is~ l~g 4\.h.ow fast a -~a,n~ la~e changes-new words can easily be futroduc~d, butit takes along time . r·'old words and usages to disappear;-a careful look at English will reveal·.: e.:~Jtitudes that our ancestors held and that we as.a culture are therefore pre:- · . (7·r·

. ~posed to hold:. My nofe carl;ls reveaie~ thr~~-:p:l~in' po~J~? fii~nds have offered the opinion thaJ I didn't need to :re~d ·a Q.i~l;ionary t<,) leain such . obvious facts, the linguistic evidence lends c~edibilit}r :to the sociolog~cal observations. : · · · ·

. . '• 1~ WOMEN A.RE SEXY; MEN ARE SUCCESSFUL. a First, in American culfur~ a wom~n is valued for the· attracti~enes~ and sexi­ nessof her body, while a man is valued' for his physical sn:et}gth and accom- plishments. A woman is sexy: A man is successful. · ·. ' . · . . . · 9 · A persuasiV~ piece of evidence supporting this view are the eponyms- . words that have come from som:eone's name--:;found iri. Englisb.l had·a t;.vo- . and~a-half-inch. stack of cards t~ken from men's riames but less U\an ·a half-inch stack fiom: women's names, arid ·most of those came from Cree)<· mythology. In the words that ca~e into American Eriglish'since,we separab~d . from Britain, there are m·any eponyms based on the name~ of famous Amer- . ican men: Bartlett: pear, boysenberry, Franklin stove; ferriS wheel,·.Gatling· gim, mason jar, sideburns, soQsaphone, Schick t~t, an,d WmChestenifle: The only common eponyms that I found taken from Americ;in women's names . are Alice blue (afte~ Alice R~sevelt Longworth)~ bloomers (a.fterAmelia Jenks ·· Bloomer), and Mae West jacket {after the buxom actress), JWpout of the three feminine eponyms relate closely to a woman's physical. anatomy, while' the masculine eponYJils {except for' ''sidebum5" after General 'BJ.ltilsides) have . noiliing to do 'With the namesake's body, but, instead; hpripr<~e 'man for ~ . accomplislurient. of some kfud. : ' ...... ' . .·' . . 1Q. · · ·In Greek mythology .women played a bigger role thaJ1 :th~Y i;J;iQ. .ipthe l:?ib'- lical stories.:ofthe Judeo~Christian cultures; and so the. J,l~~e5'ofgp((de$s~s. are .accepted parts. of the language in such place names as:P:oJl\ona, froin the god­ P.ess· of fruit; ana Athens, from Athena, and in such comn:i.Qn ·words as ce,real .from Ceres,·psythology from Psyche, ~d arachnoid from Arachl).~:Howevet, there is the same, tendency to think of wom~n in'relatiori.to 5exuality as shown· through the eponyms '~aphrodisiac" from Aphrodite, the:Greel<;'namefo~'.the . goddess of love and beauty, and "venereal disease" from.·.yenus, ,the Roman· name for Aphrodite. . . · · .· . · . ··.. . .. 11 Another mteresting word from Greek mythology is Atnazo.n: Accor<;li.t'l;g to Greek folk etymology, the a- m~ans "without," as in atypicaldr amoral, while -mazon comes from "mazos," meaning "breast," as stiRs~~ri)nm.~tectomy. In 'the Greek , Amazon women cut off ~eir right breasts:~o they could be~­ ter shoot their bows. Apparently, the storytellers had a feeling that 'for women to play the active, "masculine" role the Amazori.s adopted for themselve·s, · they had to trade in part oftheir femininity. 12 · 1his preoccupation with worri.en' s breasts is nqt limited to the Greeks; it's what inspired the definition and the name for "mcunmals" {from Indo-Euro- pean "maminae" for "breasts'~): As a volunteer for the University of WIScon-.. sin's Dictionary-of American Regional English (DARE), I read a western ~pper's diaJ:y from the 18305. I was to ma).

17 Jn relation_ to maz,rlage,linguistic evic$ence shows that weddings are more jmpor~ant to· women than to men. A woman cherishes the wedding and is ·.considered a bride foi: a whole year, but a man is referred to as a groom only on the day of the wedding. The word bride appears in bridal attendant, bridal gown, bridesmaid, bridal shower , ~d even bridegroom. Groom comes from the grom, meaning "man," and in that sense is seldom used out­ side of the weciding. With most pairs of male/female words, peopie habitu- . ally put the masC;uline word first: Mr. and Mrs., his and hers, boys and girls, men and Women, kings and queens, brothers and sisters, guys and dolls, and host and host­ ess. B_ut it is the bride and groom who are talked about, not the groom and bride. · · 18 The importance of_ marriage to- a woman is_ also shown by the fact that when a marriage ends in.~eat:h; the woman gets t}te title of widow. A man gets· the derived title of widowei:.-1bis term is not used in other p:hrases·or con­ texts, but widow is·seen ~ widowhoocl, wid_ow's_pe~ and widow's walk. A widow· in a c;u-d gam~ is_a_n extra hand of cards, whil.e in typ.esetting it is a leftover line of type. , _ . _ · _ . _ _ _ 19 Changing cultural ideas bring changes to laJ;tguage, and since I did my dictionary study three decades ago the word singles has l~gely replaced such gender-specific ~dval~e-laden terms as bachelor, old maid, spinster, divatcee, widow, and.:uHi[oiuef. In 1970 I wrote that when people hear·a man called "a - professiorial," they usually 't:hink of him as a doctor ora laWyer, bu~ when peo­ ple hear a womari. referred_ to as ,; a profession~!," th~y ar:e likely to- think -of her as a prostitute. That's riot as true today becau$e so many women have_ be­ come doctors and lawyers, it'~ no longer-incongruous to think Of women m thoSe professional roles. - . 20 · Aflother change that has taken place is~ wee\ ding announcemenl;s. They used to be sent qtlt from the bricle's_parents and did not even give the name of the groom's patents. Today, most couples choose to list either all or none of the parents' mimes, Also it is now much more likely that both the bride and groom's picture will be in the newspaper, while twenty years ago ort!y the bride's picn,tre waspublished on the "Women's" or the ~'SoPety" page. In the weddings I have recently att~ded, the .officiallul.s pronounced the couple "huSband and wife" instead of the'traditional "man ;md wife," and the bride 1:\as been asked ifsh~ proiliises t~ "iove, honor, and Cherish," instead of to . "love, honor; and obey/~ .

2. WOMEN ARE PASSIVE; MEN ARE ACTIVE However, other wording in the wedding ceremony relate$ _to a second point that my cards showed, which is that women are expected to pla.u a passive or weak role while men plan an active or strong role: h1 the tradif ,ceremony, the official asks, '~Who gives the bride away?" and the father a• ers, "I do."_ . . . . . Some fathers answer, '~Iier mother and I do/' bufthat doesn't solve th~ p·r~b- lem inherent~ the ques.tion.J?e idea that a bride is_s<)methip.g·to be handed over from one .t;n.an ~o anqth~r b.othets people because it goes back to the days when a man's servants,. his children; and his Wife were aU: consideied "to be his prop~rty. Th~·y w~re known by his. name b~cause .. they·b~i~ng'ed· to him,

Only a small number of rebels an.d crusaders got into ·~e dictionary without the benefit of a masculine escort: temperance 'leaders Frances EJ..izabeffi C~r~ ~line Willard and Carry Nation, women's rights leaders Carrie Chapman Catt and EliZabeth Cady Stanton, hirth·control educatodvfargaretSangei, religious leader Mary _eaker Eddy, an¢. slaves Harriet Thbman arid PhilliS Wh~atley. 24 Etiquette books used to teach that if a woman had Mrs. in· ~nt of her name, then the husband's name should follow becau8e Mrs. is an abbreviat~ · form of Mistress and a woman .couldn't be a mistreSs of herself. As wi~ many arguments about ":eorreet'' language usage, this isn't very logical because Miss is also an abbrevht.tion of Mistress. Feminists hoped to simplify matters by introducing Ms. as an alternative to both Mrs. and Miss, but what .fm_~i~~t _and Lq.""'~e 179 .. .. . ··~". ._.:/ happened is that Ms.Jargejy repi~i::ed MiSs to ~orne a catch-all husiness ti­ tle for women. M~y.niattied. women still prefer the title Mrs., and some even resent beillg addreSsed with the term Ms.As one frustrated newspaper re­ porter corp.plained,'"Before I can wnte about a woman:J have to know not only her marital· status but also her political philosophy." The result of such . complications may contribute to the demise of titles, which. are already being ignored by m~y writ~ who find it more dficient t'? simply use names; for exarp.ple, in a busineSs letter: ~'Dear Joan Garcia/' instead of "Dear Mrs. Joan Garcia," "Dear Ms. Garda," or i'Dear Mrs. Louis Garda." Titles given: tQ rpyalty show how males can be·di.Sadvantaged by the as­ sumption that they always play the more powerful role. In British royalty, wl).en a male hol~s a title, his· wife is automatic;ally given the feminine equiv­ alent. But the r~v~rse is not lnie. For example, ·a ,count is a high political offi:- . cer With a counte~ b~g hjs Wife. The same pattem·holds true for a duke and a duchess and a king and aqueen. B~t when a fem.ale holds the royal. title, the man she marrieS dOes not automatically acquire the matching title. For ex­ ample, Queen EliZabet;h's h~sband.has the title of p~e rather than king, but 'when Prin~e Qt_arles married Diana, she becarri.e Prlnc~s Diana. If they had stayed married and he had ascended to the throne, fu.en she woqld have be- .come Queen Diana. The rea·soning app~ars to be that since masculine words are strongex:, they are reserved for true heirS and withheld· frorp. mal~ com­ ing into the r~Y.f!l family·by mama,ge. If Prince PIUllip \Vere called "IQng Phillip," British subjects might f9rget who had inherited the right to rule. !6 The names that people give their children shpw the hopes and dreams they. have for them, and when we look at the differen-ces between male and female names in a culture, we can see the cumul~tive expectations of that cul­ ture. In our culnire girls often have nai;nes taken· frorri small, aesthetically pleasing items; for example, Ruby, Jewel,. and PearCEst:her and Stella mean . "star," and Ada means"ornament." One of the few women's names that refers to.stiength is Mild~d, and it !neans "nilld strengih':;··Boys often have names with meanings of powei: and strength; for example, Neil.means "champion"; Martin is from Mar.;, the God of-war; Raymond means "wi11e prot~tion"; Harold means "Chlef of the ai:my"; Ira means llvigil~nt"; Rex means "king"; and Richard rp.eait$ "strong king.'' · 27 We· see similardifferences in foo~ metaphors. Food is a passive substance just sitting there waiting to pe eaten. Many peop\e have reeogniz.ed this and so no longer feel corrifortable describing women as "delectable morsels.~'. However, when I was a teenager, it was considered. a ~ompliment to refer to a girl (we didnit call anyone a "woman" until she was ~ddle-aged) as a cut¢ tomato, a peach, a dish, a cookie, honey, sugar, or sweetie-pie. When being af-" fectionate, womeo will occasionally call a man honey or sweetie, bu·t in geJr, eral, food metaphors are used much less often with men than with women. .Jf a man is called "a fruit," his masculiriity is being questioned. But. it's perfectJY acceptable to use a food metaphor if the food is heavie-r and more substantive~ . •~u

than that_used for women. For example, pin-up pictures of women have long bee~ known as "cheesecake," but when.Burt Reynold~ posed for a nude_ cen­ terfold the picture was immediately d.ubbed "beefcake,". that is, a hunk of meat. That such sexual references to men have come into the language is an­ other reflection of how society is beginning to les~:;en the.differen~es between their attitudes towaid'men and women. . . : ...... 2a Something similar to .the f~it metaphor happef\S. wiu-\ references to plants. We insult a ~an by.calling him a "pansy," but it wasn't considered· par­ ticularly insulting to talk about a girl being a waJlflower; a. clinging vine, or a shrinking violet, or to give girls su_ch nam..~s as Ivy, Rose, Lily,· Iris, Oaisy, Camelia, Heather, ~d "Flora. A positive plant metaphor'can be used with a ·man only if the plant is"hig and strong;"· for example, Andrew Jackson's niCk.­ name of Old Hickory. Also, the phrases blooming idiots and budding geniuses can be used with either sex, but noti~e ·how they are ·b~d ·an the most ~ctive thing a plant can do, ·which 1s to bloom or bud. 29 Animal metaphors also illustrate the different expectations for males and females. Men are referred ·to as studs, .bucks, and wolves, ·while women a.te referred to with s"uch·mehipho-z:S as kitten,·b~y, beav~,.bird, chick, and· lamb. In the 1950s we· saic\·th~t boys went "to.m.catting/''·but today it'~ ju5t

II catting arou,nd," and both boys ~d girls do it. When the tenn foxy, mean.:. • ing that someone ~as sexy;~tbecame_pc;>p~ar it w.as·usei;l oruy.for females, but riow someone of e1ther ·sex: can. be described as a fox~ Some ariim.al metaphors that are u,se4 predo~tly.with men have negative coml.otations based on the size· and/or strength of the animals; for: example, beast, bull­ headed, jackass, rat, loa.nSi)ar.i¢; and vulture. Negative inet!lphors used with · women are based on smaller animals; for example, social butterfly, mousey, catty, and vixen. The feminin~ terms connote action, but not the same kind of larg~ scale" action as with· the masculine terms ..

3. WOMEN ARE.CONNECTED WITH NEGATIVE· · CONNOTATIONS; M.EN WITH POSITIVE CONNOTATIONS The final point that n1y riote cards illustrated was how many .positive conno-. tatioris are associated with the concept of masculfuity, whil:~ there are either trivial or negative connotations connectec;i with the co_rresp'?ndi:flg f~minine . concept. An example from,. the ariiinal metaphors makes a good illustration. . The word shrew taken from the· name of a small but especially vicious ariirh~l . was defined in my di<:tioriary as "an m:_teinpered scolding woman,'' but the ··word shrewd taken fro.m the"same root was defined as "~tked by clever,. discerning awareness" ·and··was ·ilhistrated with the phrase "a shrewd. businessman." · · · · · · Early in lif~, chlldren are condit:ioru~d to the superiority of the masculine role. As child - ··chologists point out, little girls have much more freedom to experiment with sex roles ihan do little boys. If a little girl acts like a tomboy, most parents have mixed feeling-s, being at least partially proud. But if their little boy acts like a sissy (derived from sister), _they call a psychologist. It's per­ fectly acceptable for a little girl to sleep in the crib that was purchased for her brother, to wear- his hand-me-down jeans and shirts, and to ride the bicycle that·he has outgrown~ But few parents would put a: boy baby in a white-and­ gold crib decorated With frills and lace, anci virtually no parents would have their little boy wear his sister's hand-me-down dresses, nor would they have th~k son ride a Siri's pink bicycle With a flower-bedecked basket. The proper names given to gii-ls and boys- show this same attitude. Girls can have "boy" names--:-Cris, Craig, Jo, Kelly, Shawn~ Teri, Toni, and Sam;-but it doesn't work the other way ~ound. A couple of generations ago, Beverly, Frances, Haze_l, Mar_ion, and Shirley were common boys' names. As parents gave these - names to more_ and more girls, they-fell into disuse for males, and some older men who have -the5e names_ prefer to go by their initials or by such abbrevi­ ated forms as Ha;t;e or Shi.Tl. 32 When a li!il~ girl is told to be a lady, she is being told to sit with her knees together and to be quiet and dainty. But when a little boy is told to be a man, he is ~eing told tb be noble, strong, and virtuous-to have all the qualities that the speake_r looks en as desirable. Th~ concept' of manliness has such positive -- connotations-that ifused to~ a compliment to call someone a he-: man, to say that he was doubly a man. Today many people are more ambivalent about this term and respond to it much as they·do to the word macha. But calling some­ one a inanly man ora-virile man is nearly alwa:y:S meant as a compliment. Vir­ ile comes. from the Indo-EuropE!an vir, meaning "man," which is also the basis of virtuous. Consider the positive connotations of- both virile and virtuous with the negative connotations of hysterical. The Greeks took this latter word from their ·name fOF Uterus (as still seen in hysterectomy}. They thought that women were the· only enes who experienced· uncontrolled emotional out- . bursts, and- so the condition must- have something to do with a part of the · body that only women have. But how word me~gs change is regularly shown at athletic events where thousands of virtuous women sit quietly be- -side their hysterical htisbands.- --- · :13 - · Differences in the connotations between positive male and negative fe- male connotations can be Seen in Several pairs of'words that differ denota­ tively only in the matter of sex. Bacheior as compared to spinster or old maid . -has such positive connotations that women try to adopt it by using the term' bachelor-girl or bachelorette. Old:maid is so negative that it's the basis for metaphors: pretentious and-fussy old men are called "old maids,"- as are the leftover.-kernels of unpopped popcorn and the last card in a popular children's card'game. . . 34 Patron and matron (Middle English for "father" and 'tmother") have such different levels of prestige that-women try to borrow the r. .positil!'e mas­ culine connotations with the word patroness, ~terilllY "fern.. .ather." Such a ~·.:..- . .:·

peculiar term came about because o"f the high pre8tige attached to patro~ in such phrases as a patron of the .arts or a patron sain~. Matron is ·more apt- to· be used in talking about a woman iri charge of a jail or a public resqoom. 35 When men are doing jobs that woin~n often do, w~ apparently try to pay the men extra by giving them fancy tities. ·For example, a male cook is more likely. to be called a "chef" while a male seamstress will get the title of "tai­ lor." The armed forces have a special problem in that'th~y reciuit under such slogans as "The Marine Corps builds ·men!" .and "Join the. Army! Become a ·Man/' Once·the recruits are enlisted, they find themselves doing much of the work that has been traditionally thought of as "women's work." The solution.·. to getting the work done and not insulting anyone's masci.dinity was to I change the titles as shown below: · waitref!S =orderly nurse =medic or corpsman secretary = clerk-typist 1 assistant =adjutant dishwasher ;:::-KP (kitchen police) or kitchen helper

36 Compare· brave and_ squaw. Early settlers in ·An.lerlca truly a:d~d Iricti'ian inert and hence named them with a. word that carrie~ connotations of youth, .vigor, and courage. But fodndian women they used an Algonquin slang term with negative:sexual connotatipns that are almost opposite to those of brave. WIZard and witch contrast alni.ost as InQch, The masculine wizard implies skill and 'wisdoin combined with magic, while the femin,ine witch implies evil in­ tentions co'mbined With magic. When witch is used for men, as in witch-doc­ tor; many mainstream speakers feel s.ome carry-over ·of the negative COIUlOtations. . _ 37 Part' of the unattractiveness ~fboth witch and squaw is that they have 'been used so often to refer to' old women, something with whi~ our culture is par­ ticularly uncomfortable, just a:s theAfghans were. Imagine my sl:lll'tise.when I ran across the phrases grandfatherly advice and old wives' tales and realized that . the underlyingimplicat,ion is the same as. the Afghan.proverb about old men being worfu·listening to while old women talk only foolishness. . 38 Other terms th~t show h~w: negatively we view old women as compared to young women are o~d nag as compa~.d t() filly, old crow _or old· bat as com­ pared to bird, a:nd ·being catty· as compared to being kittenish. There i~ nC? matching set of ·metaph<;>rs for men. The chicken metaphor. tells the whole story of a woman's lif~. In he,r. youth she is a chick. Then she marries and be­ g~ feathering her nest~ Soon sh~ b~gins feeling cooped up, so:she goes to hen parties where she cackles with her friends. Thert she has her brood,.begins to ~enpeck her husband, and finally.tums mto an old biddy. .

39 I embarked on my study of the dictionary not with the intentions of prescrib­ ing but simply ~o see ~hat the language would tell me about oNii~; -$~i~~n!£nglisll:-.Emb:Odim~nf;cfn.d;tong~· 183 ·- ._- ·. . . -

~m. Neverthele~s; I have been both -suxprlsed and pleased as I've watched 1e changes that hav~ oc~d over th~ past three decades. I'm one of those nguists who believes that new language customs will cause a new genera­ on of spe_akers to grow up with-~iffe.t;ent exp~ta tiol\5. This is why I'm happy oout people;s_efforts to use inclusive languages, to say "he or she" or "they" •hen speaking ab~lit individuals whose-names they do not know. I'm glad \at leadlng pupli~hers ·have developed guidelines to help writers use lan­ uage that is fairt6 both sex~: I'm glad·tt\at most newspapers and magazines st women by their own names instead of on)y by their husbands' names. And m so. glad that educated and- tho~ghtful people no longer· begin their busi­ ~ss letters with "Dear Sir" or "Gentlemen," but instead use a memo. -form or ~gin w~th such salutations as "Dear Colleagues," "Dear Reader," or ('Dear ommitt~e Members." I'm also glad that such ~ordS as poetess, authoress, con­ lctress, aru;l aviatrix now sound quaint and old-fashioned and that chaimum giving way to chair or head, mailman_ .to mail caf!ier, clergyman to clergy, and · wardess tojlight'att~nt. I was also pleased when the National Oc-eanic and · tmospheric Administration bowed to feminist complaints and in the late 170s begc:m to_alteriuite men's and women's names for hurricanes: However, vasn't so pleased to.discover that the change ci1d not immediat-ely ~rase sex~ :thoughts from eveiyone's.mind, as shown·by a headline about Hurricane :1vid ma 1979 Ne~ Yorl< tabloid, ,;David Rapes Vrrgin ISlands~" More re-· ntly a similar metaphor app~areo in a headline· in the·Ariz6na Republic .about urricane Char~, "Owlie Quits Carolinas, Flirts with Vrrginia." ,What these inc~den:ts show is t-hat sexism is not something existing inde­ ~ndently in American English_or in the particular dictionary that 1 happened read. Rather, it exists in people's minds. Language is like an X-ray in pro­ :ling visible evidence of.invisib_le thoughts. The bestthing about people be­ ~interested in ana discussing sexist language is that as they rnak-e~onscious dsions about what' pronouns they' will use, what jokes they will tell' or 1gh at, how they will write their names. or how they will begin their letters, ~y are forced to think about the underlying issue of sexism. This is good be­ use as a problem that begins irt people's assumptions and expectations, it's 1roblem that will be solved only when a gre

-GOMP·Rl».ENSION• Words to talk a~out: • the T.aleban Islamic movement • The Afghan version of the chaderi • suddenly bereft of our traditional roles • when topographical featUre_s are nam~d