Culturing Language Part II

The etymological skill of a speaker is their insight/capacity to create or perceive meaning. Nonetheless, the phonetic capability isn't sufficient to seem OK. One requires the information on the social shows of a specific culture to make meaning. Since language is exceptionally reliant upon the way of life around it, it is in many faculties a performative goes about too. The sexual orientations are hence impacted by the language they talk. I might want to examine the interrelation between orientation and language and what the two reciprocally mean to one another. It is never a dull chance to survey and repeat the requirement for a feminist change, however, there is even more motivation to do it when the greater part of the populace has hit a respite, and we have adequate time to burn to think about how our general public has been molded, as though of course, in male-driven ways. Regardless of some advancement, the arising worldwide agreement is that genuine change has been tortuously delayed for most women and young women on the planet. Today, not a solitary nation can profess to have accomplished gender equity. Different hindrances stay unaltered in regulation and in culture.

A Feminist Language Reform:

To combat the profanities of sexism in all languages, a movement called feminist language reform was conceived. Also known as feminist language planning, meaning, the effort, often of political and grassroots movements, to change how language is used to gender people, activities, and ideas on an individual and societal level. Frequently alluded to as semantic interruption, and generally done to uncover sexism in language, phonetic disturbance means disrupting etymological norms to uncover an issue and make individuals mindful of it. An illustration of this is the use of the word 'herstory'. The word currently prominently alludes to history which isn't just about men.

Language and its Reflection:

Language reflects existing social reality. Socio-linguists and feminist scholars have been examining how language upholds, supports, or devalues women; how it shapes the social and cultural contexts, how it’s shaped by these contexts; and what measures can be taken to change the social perception of gender. When Simone de Beauvoir said and I quote, “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.”, we must think through what this sentence actually means through several examples coming into our minds. Continuous training occurs for a child as soon as it is born in terms of social and cultural norms. Whenever we talk of gender boundaries, we need to realize and understand how these boundaries are related to ideas; and how they are not physical or geographical. Thus, they are called ‘conceptual’ and can change with time. Gender identity is something of a person’s inner sense of being and one cannot contest that as such.

I remember being young and watching “English songs” on the Disney channel by artists like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and so on. It was very much later in life when I realized the meanings held by certain songs and videos. There’s this one song by Katy Perry called “California Girls” which actually reveals many issues relating to gender and popular culture. Whereas, there were several other songs by both foreign and Indian artists which highlighted (still do) the limitations and boundaries “ascertained” to women. It’s not even the direct pointing.  The phenomenon of post-feminism called in a new era of gender-based discussions and heralded a revival of chick culture, so to say. (Not to forget the immense objectification of women is so. many. songs.) A keen observation needs to be done in regard to the construction, reconstruction, and deconstruction of female identities in the 21^st century, specifically within the context of ongoing debates around the use of language with respect to women and the idea of gender in general. Even coming to a term like “women empowerment” sparks a lot of debates as to what is and what not is women empowerment. To me when I see pink buses running around the city for the ‘safety of women is not women empowerment but the same idea which was established by the state ‘for the safety of women’ is certainly women empowerment as per them. This creates a vast distinction of opinions around not just terminologies, but, such measures and laws in general. Feminism has certainly become the brand nowadays. There are distinctive views and discussions as to what it means to be or to become a woman and how dominant cultural representations project the influence of post-feminist discourse on the contemporary landscape of gender identities.

Any Agents of Change?

The trouble with a feminist language change is that chauvinist thinking has saturated the littlest alcoves of culture. To achieve any change requires a monstrous change in shared mindset, be it then on the savagery of language then, at that point; particularly in Indian settings. Well, Gandhi thought that women could be the agents of change, revolution, and Satyagraha because they had “inner traits” of selflessness, non-violence, and nature of nurturance. But, well, that’s exactly the kind of traits per se as women we don’t wish to be looked at through. Women are beyond all of it and restricting them to these characteristics automatically creates boundaries and territories not just around them, but, within themselves too. Languages have a huge impact in constructing gender, which is already so much socially, culturally, and politically constructed. Along with this, language has a great connection with society, so if a change in social structure takes place, language use will also take place.