After reading “Identity Terms” I think the term that most describes me is “People of Color” vs. “Colored People”. When people look at me they say I am a colored girl. I don’t like any of these terms “people of color” or “colored people”. I like to be approached or recognized as a black woman. Some people say it doesn’t make a difference but for me it isn’t. “People of color” or “colored people” refer to a group of blacks and was created years ago, during slavery and the prime of racism. That term was used to belittle us.
One of the theories in the “Feminist Philosophy of Language” that caught my attention was “1.3 Malesness as Norm”. In the U.S we do have gender specific occupations in the title. For example, we say garbage man not garbage women or mailman. But then there are titles that do have like a waiter and a waitress. This is probably the most common one used. One reason people don’t like gender specific occupations by the title is that the use of these terms seems “premised on the idea that maleness is the norm, and that women filling these jobs are somehow deviant versions.” But this is also a key objection to the use of ‘he’ and ‘man’ instead of ‘she” or “woman”.
Hello Kianna,
thank you for sharing your post. I believe we both liked the “Feminist Philosophy of Language” and the language inequality toward women versus men. I agree that the terms you used like ”garbage man not garbage women or mailman” make certain jobs meant to be for men and others for women. Even the language isn’t free from this bias. we still find that the body physiology and the consideration that men are the house head hold while women are the nurturer still there.
I can also admit that now days women are challenging these types of bias by occupying higher positions and jobs that were restricted for men only.
Thank you.