A Whore New Wor(l)d

If you buy the same tights as me (which you will because where else can you buy tights if not M&S?) then you will know your basic hosiery geography. At the bottom there’s a foot, the expensive ones that I can’t afford have a reinforced toe and specific pouches for your heels to prevent you putting them on back to front, then in the middle there’s some legs which are destined for laddering, taking us to the top of the tights which is home to a rather itchy label and slag lines. The rules of the game are as follows: if your skirt is above the lines then you’re a slag and because we all know that ‘slag’ is the last thing you want on your emotional résumé, the fear of judgement will encourage you to wear those super long pencil skirts that restrict each footstep to about 5cm. Simples, right?

The only time I ever thought about these lines in great detail was when I was trying to cover them up- maybe that’s why it took me so long to realise the damage a single word could do. I mean, what actually is a slag? After a quickie with my boyf, otherwise known as Urban Dictionary (my saviour on many occasions including the time when I was about to have a full throttle conversation with someone about the latest Ellie Goulding album because I discovered smh didn’t mean Summer Music Hits) we find the definition: an individual who cares not for relationships beyond the realm of the sexual. Now, that’s pretty strange, 12 and a half year old school babs judging other 12 and a half year old school babs on nothing other than the length of their skirts, as if skirts are the latest future predicting device, like iOS updated crystal balls. What you don’t realise at that age is you’re already well on your way to a society of slut shaming. Waitrose essentially, it made me realise how powerful words are and got me thinking about the ones we could do without.

For The Win (words we should reclaim) vs For The Bin (words we should throw out)

For The Win: Whore My fave word of all time (along with toucan and lolita). It just sounds so earthy- seriously, say it right now. WHORE. It’s like the wind and the ocean and broken glass all wrapped into one syllable; I’ve never understood how it could be used as an insult. What’s great is that I’ve noticed words intended to make derogatory statements about women (e.g. whore, slut, slag) being reclaimed a lot recently and I think it’s a wonderful way to change how we speak about each other. Realistically, if you reclaim all the insults then what can they say to hurt you? (Probably a lot of things but that’s not stray from the point.)

This book understands me

For The Bin: Hypocrite Not only is it a bitch to spell but I feel like this word prevents people from changing. I like to think that my wildly irrational opinions or unjustifiable positions are swept under the IKEA rug never to be seen again, but sadly they’re only hidden until one day you buy a jumper from Peacocks and suddenly there’s a swarm of your Year 8 friends stood at the gate ready to remind you of that one time in PSHE when you said Peacocks was for ‘chavs’ and how dare you now be wearing Peacocks’ clothing that makes you SUCHA hypocrite. I’ve just never understood why we criticise people for changing, especially when it surrounds such trivial issues.

For The Win: Feminist For every newly found fem bb that I follow on social media, I seem to find another 5 complaining that #FeminismIsCancer (connotations: spreads quickly, usually can’t be cured, deadly- my heart goes out to anyone affected by cancer but in this context I’m not really sure it’s an insult?) I recon overall, despite people STILL going on about the manhating stereotype, stats of people identifying as feminists are on the up- mainly because I’ve joined and what a great asset I am to the team- however we won’t know until someone important like Caitlin Moran does a survey to tell us.

Me rn

 

For The Bin: Not All X Generalisations are just a part of human nature; we generalise in order to communicate effectively. Why then, does half of my Twitter feed look like this…

Me: I just got catcalled by the grossest ma-

Man: NOT ALL MEN

Like obviously it isn’t all men: I don’t see the Dalai Lama winding down the window of his white van and telling the woman at the zebra crossing she’s got nice tits, but the point is that by saying ‘not all men’ or ‘all lives matter’, regardless of how true they are, you are ignoring the point being made in the first place. Also, how come ‘not all men’ is a thing, yet when people make completely random statements generalising feminists and we reply we’re seen as ‘angry, hairy lesbians’?

We’re at 800 words already? Whaat! Clearly time for me to shut up, but be sure to leave your fave/least fave words in the comments and I’ll compile them into a little (lol when have I ever done little) (oh god that wasn’t supposed to sound cheeky…) part 2 post.