Insults help to reinforce gender labels, stereotypes

TO THE EDITOR:

Jessica Fuller’s column (“Slurs only reinforce gender labels,” Sept. 9) is right on the money.

It’s depressing and demeaning to hear serious issues, such as rape, declared in superficial and childish insults. As a close friend of a rape survivor, I am not amused by people who toss such words around lightly.

By the female-negative nature of the insults Fuller described, it appears women don’t waste time forming new insults that offend men or glorify our own bodies.

But since the general consensus is that casual degradation of women is having a substantial impact, and given the fluidity of the English language, I think it’s high time some new phrases were created.

Gender-specific crudeness probably won’t go away entirely, so we might as well level the playing field. I hope my female friends will consider it a compliment if I tell them they have tits of steel.

And to guys who frequently use “rape” casually in conversations: Don’t be dicks.


Caroline Johnson
Sophomore
Undecided