Re: digital and analogue photography -the essay
I seem to have missed the evil comments described (my ISP may be an MCP) but here's a simple test: Try, just try to imagine those putdowns to someone who signed themselves "Charles Rogers." It doesn't happen. Nor can we say that if Catherine were famous (or more famous) she'd get more respect. I recall, some 10 years (or more) ago, a couple of boy-os on the History of Photography list snickering about "Susan Sontag, the bitch." No, I'm not making that up. In fact the language (English anyway) just about insures it. I did an analysis of gender terms in Roget's Thesaurus (see my T-shirt book, pages 134-143): Probably the most striking example is the fact that slang for "femininity" devolves to "bitch." The closest equivalent terms for men (other than feminized men) are "bad person," or blame for financial ("Bowery bum") or outright criminal status. Under "unchastity," men are libertine, swinger, profligate, rake, roue, womanizer, woman chaser, gay dog, etc., which is to say, terms that are almost admiring; women are "whore" or "nympho." The unequal status for men and women is even clearer under the entry for "old." "Adult Or Old Person" para 2, has 38 terms for old man and elder, of which only one, "dotard" is unredeemably bad. The others are either respectful, like "golden-ager," "patriarch, or "Father Time," or only mildly disparaging, like "geezer" or "old codger." However, the category for old woman has 21 terms, of which only 2 or 3 are respectful ("grandam," "beldam"). Most, like "old battle ax," "hen," bag, "witch," and "crone." are, to put not too fine a point on it, insults. I wouldn't say the language causes the sexism, rather that it reflects the sexism... and not so coincidentally I noticed that Webster's Unabridged (I have 2 editions circa 10 years apart) shows that the word "racism" entered the language approximately 10 years before the word "sexism." Which may explain why the US press has freely commented on Hillary Clinton's ankles, et al, but not a word about -- oh I dunno, do Obama's ears stick out, or something ? I'm not a shrinking violet, and I do get to experience this first hand, which I admit, accustomed as I am, still can come as a shock... But it occurs to me to ask, Catherine, did any of that disparagement come from women? From the comments cited just now, it would seem not. Judy
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