Last time, I wrote about men’s
and women’s language and since then I have come across some surprising items in
the press. Instead of enthusiastic reporting, the following, published in The
Express on 11th August, should have been roundly criticised: John Hennigan made
the mistake of calling Judge Patricia Lynch, QC, a “c***” as she jailed him for
18 months. In measured tones, Judge Lynch replied: “You’re a bit of a c***
yourself. Being offensive to me doesn’t help.” Hennigan, 50, shouted: “Go f***
yourself!” Judge Lynch simply retorted: “You too.” Instead, the judge seems to
have gained a reputation as a no-nonsense member of the judiciary who puts
offenders well and truly in their place. Nonsense, she should be reprimanded
and told to uphold the dignity of the law.
Not only language, but feminine
matters are becoming invasive, too. There was also a detailed article about the
clitoris in Le Figaro recently, not just text, oh no, but photos to boot. I
know it’s a French publication, but… And lunch-time television adverts seem
frequently to be about creams to relieve various irritations that only afflict
women. This does nothing for my appetite and makes me think that soon Big
Pharma may start to demonstrate the efficacy of their potions on ED, with graphic
illustrations of course; now that would liven things up a bit at midday.
Another article in the Daily Mail
related how a transgender woman found romance with a man who also changed sex. This
really is a most confusing area. LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender.
The word ‘sex’ as an administrative category on forms seems to be destined to
disappear and to be replaced by ‘gender’ which used to be a grammatical term. Sex
and gender in grammar and sociolinguistics were used to refer to different things.
The debate in the United States at both federal and state level about which
lavatories should be used by different people depending on whether they were
born male or female but also whether they felt they really belonged to the
other sex or neither of those, is going to lead us where? Administrative forms,
censuses for example, will they show in future Male, Female, Other (please give
details)? What will these details be? What proof will be needed? What will
happen to comparative statistics? Will there be universal acceptance of three,
or more, sexes? Will same sex marriages become the new normal?
The BBC ran a headline yesterday:
“Transgender soldier becomes first woman on Army front line”. The article goes
on to explain that the soldier joined the Scots Guards as a man in 2012 but
began hormone therapy in the last month, and has officially changed her name. The
Army said it was delighted to have its first woman in a close-combat role. The Guardsman,
who had official documents changed by deed poll from her birth name of Ben to
reflect her new name and status, has now been informed she will be able to stay
in the infantry, as a woman. The BBC uses neither the term ‘sex’ nor ‘gender’,
but ‘status’. Confusing?
That George Sand was in fact the
pseudonym of Amandine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, a nineteenth century lady writer who
fought for women’s independence, is well known. That Jan Morris was born James
Humphrey Morris, historian, author and travel writer is perhaps less well known.
Jan Morris is described as a trans woman who was published under her birth name
until 1972, when she transitioned from living as male to living as female. These
examples, in their day, were exceptional. There are new vocabulary items specifically
created, such as “trans” woman and the verb to “transition”, which the OED
dates to 1993. Nowadays, the sheer number of people involved, the various sexes,
genders, statuses generated, leave many people unable to comprehend.
This situation in society will
have to be reflected socio-linguistically. What I started by describing as men’s
and women’s language reflects social evolution that is not really very
complicated, in fact it’s rather trivial; it’s simply a matter of standards, of
gravitas. The sex/gender question by comparison is a sea-change. It will be
interesting to see how society in general and the different generations cope
with it.
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