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Loading... Womanwords: A Dictionary of Words About Womenby Jane Mills
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I found this a bit depressing as it's a dictionary that shows how many derogatory terms about women there are, and how words that started out as neutral or as applying to both genders ended up female specific and perjorative. ( ) Feminist author selects 300 English words which relate to women, and explores their semantic history. Shows, with hundreds of examples, that in spite of the claims of objectivity [xiii], dictionaries are filled with prejudice beyond the prescriptive. This work presents words which have changed over time, becoming positive ("wicked") or perjorative ("effeminate"), or back-and-forth or both simultaneously ("nice"), or switching the gender reference ("honey"). Womanwords within categories are illlustrated -- those that define women as edible (dish, tart), or even more extensive, depicted as animals (bat, bitch, filly). Not all the themes drawn out of the anglophonics reveal misogyny. Many powerful etymological roots are positive, or reveal shared values. The study exposes assumptions, and enables us to rethink what we mean. The author is a documentarian living in London. no reviews | add a review
"The balance of power between men and women today has been shaped, in part, by our ever-changing language. In this entertaining and lively exploration of the histories and meanings of over 300 words relating to women, Jane Mills reveals how our language both reflects women's role in society and actively creates it. Extensively cross-referenced, this is an essential dictionary for anyone concerned with language and the relations between men and women"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)305.403Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people Women Women - subdivisions Dictionaries And EncyclopediasLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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