In a recent Tumbler discussion, a user, who calls herself ‘Feminist Chewbacca’ wanted to discover the root causes of patriarchal domination in society. So she looked toward the English language to see if signs of sexism could be detected in its origins.
In these days fabricated stories suited to meet the writer’s agenda, it has never been more important to check your facts. This is where Feminist Chewbacca slipped up. Reposting a blog she found on Visual Poetry, she probably didn’t plan on being fact-checked by a professional linguist. Her ill-advised choice of examples were torn down one by one, until she started to look rather silly, and misinformed.
By introducing her post with the words: “Men fabricated the idea that they are the default sex to compensate for their biological inferiority and general superfluousness,” Feminist Chewbacca sets a combatant tone that isn’t going to agree with a lot of people. She should be prepared to have crystal clear facts and defend her position when the inevitable attacks come from readers of her post.
It’s also important to note that it isn’t clear that this ‘linguist’ is indeed qualified or not, and his facts also should be checked. After some basic research it can be gathered that while some claims hold water, others are open to discussion. The issue isn’t merely black and white, and Feminist Chewbacca is right to bring attention to it. She just could have gone about it a better way.
So what conclusions should be drawn from this heated situation? It can be easy to pass off someone else’s arguments as your own, but at least do some research to make sure the facts lineup first. Also, if you start your point from an extremist position and with militant words, you should expect a lot of resistance. If they come prepared with facts and you are just repeating things that others have said because you want them to be true, you are just asking someone to make you look like a fool.
Scroll down to see how the exchange unfolded, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Tumblr user ‘Feminist Chewbacca’ posted artwork that resonated with her beliefs, that sexism is rooted in language
But this linguist wasn’t having it and wrote a detailed and qualified response
