Off: Censorship

[M Holmes]

Dave Berry writes:

> On 13 Jan 14:25, M Holmes wrote:
> > Jon Browne writes:
> > > Is gender incorrect? Forgive my imprecise language
> >
> > It's less a language nitpick than a political bete noir for me. Gender
> > is something that applies to words, whereas humans and animals are
> > divided into sexes. There are those with a political agenda who attempt
> > to pretend that there are more sexes than two, or who wish to pretend
> > that females can somehow be males and vice versa rather than simply have
> > attributes usually associated with the opposite sex. There's been an
> > attempt to replace the word "sex" with "gender" partly in promotion of
> > this agenda in the PC movement to alter reality by altering the map
>
> It's more complex than that.  In sexual political/gender studies
> circles, "sex" refers to physical sex, while "gender" refers to
> social roles and/or mental self-image.

That may be so, but in the normal world of language that's not what the
word "gender" means. If they want to play Humpty Dumpty then that's
their prerogative but it's no reason for the rest of the world to
play along.

> > I suspect, because the sensitive little bunnyhuggers are a bit skittish
> > about actually using the word "sex".  Most likely because it conjures up
> > Dworkinish Demons from Planet Patriarchy.
>
> If you think Dworkin herself is sensitive about the word "sex"

No. I accept that Dworkin is intelligent and skilled at debate even if I
find her views somewhat outlandish and unreasonable.

> Most people I met at various bisexual gatherings, *especially* the politicos,
> were very happy to talk about sex, where they'd been pierced, the details
> of gender dysfunction and corrective surgery, etc.  OTOH, a woman friend
> told me of some women who were shocked by Andrea Dworkin when she gave
> a reading in Edinburgh and was not in the least prudish!  So maybe there
> are some "sensitive little bunnyhuggers" out there.

That particular sensitivity seems to be prevalent on certain US campuses
and is thankfully rare in the UK. Unfortunately political correctness
isn't. A magazine was lifted from student shops at Edinburgh University
because it contained adverts for staff for massage parlours. And of
course there's the Zero Tolerance campaign here (nowt to do with drugs
and more to do with insulting men with their own tax dollars).

> Ah well, it makes a
> change from seeing feminists referred to as nazi ball-crushers.

I always liked "feminazi" but who wants to be associated in anyone's
mind with Rush Limbaugh?

> > Mike "Unreconstructed male" Holmes
>
> Isn't that a PC term for a much ruder word?

Is it? What's that?

> Dave.

FoFP