randomosity

Words matter to other people, too!

Aunt B brought this to my attention just now: Philadelphia-based writer Tara Murtha pleads for some sense in the “rape” vs. “had sex with” debate. Here’s what I said on the same topic a little while back. Pay attention and I promise you will see this unfortunate semantic switcheroo a lot. It needs to stop.

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feminism shameless self-promotion work

Taming of the shrew

That sound you hear is this week sucking the life out of me. It’s been … not great. Apparently my karmic retribution for being in a horrible mood midweek was to turn the tail end of the week into my own private failfest at work. I got called on the carpet for my participation in this conversation, and I can’t say I don’t see why. I’m an asshole! I don’t mince words! I speak to…

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news work

Words matter

Today I waged a word battle at work and I lost. It was over this story on The CA‘s site. The headline: “Third ex-Memphis police officer pleads guilty to forced sex with prostitutes.” “Forced sex,” huh? Like, sex you don’t want to have but that someone else makes you have? So … like … rape? After seeing my pal Amanda’s complaint about the euphemism on Twitter, I read the story and agreed totally with her.…

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