Homophobia is NOT funny

I'm going to say something I thought I didn't have to say: homophobia isn't funny. Seems obvious right? Apparently not. I've talked before about the power of words and linguistics so it really shouldn't come as a surprise that I feel this way.


Obviously straight up, in your face, disgusting, hateful homophobia is wrong; but so is passive, inferential homophobia. To me there is little difference between the two as they both have the same result. You can straight up say that being gay is wrong or you can say boys with long hair are "queers"-- BOTH are not okay.


I'm raising my son to be anything he wants to be and love anyone he wants to love and to know that whatever his choices are they are all normal. Words are so powerful and why would you choose to marginalize and alienate an entire section of society for the purpose of a laugh?

Don't get me wrong; I love humour and I know that comedy can push boundaries but there is a difference between pushing boundaries and exploiting homophobic language for a cheap laugh.

I know this might seem as if it is coming out of nowhere but like I said, it is something I thought I didn't have to say but apparently I need to say it. Homophobia is NOT funny.

Feminist Friday XIV: Linguistics

I don't often give warnings at the start of posts but if you are offended by strong language or only read my blog to see cute pictures of Blondie Boy (hint hint Grandma) just stop right now.


This week's theme is linguistics; I say linguistics as that is the study of language rather than just language itself or maybe I'm trying to make y'all think I'm smart, whatever reason I'm talking about words and how they are used.


Unless you live under a rock or in an Amish community you'll have heard some horrible events took place in London and other parts of England last week. My twitter stream was full of tweets about the riots and looting and I was shocked by a lot of it and I'm not talking about the actual crimes themselves.

So let's step back a second; Rufus Hound is a "comedian" and tweeted this in response to the Malaysian student who was hurt, helped to his feet as other stole things out of his backpack. That act was atrocious; what Hound tweeted was also atrocious.

You have to call those criminals a cunt? Really? Everyone knows that cunt is possibly *the* worst swear word you can use. The worst word you could call someone is cunt and what is a cunt? It's a vagina. So the worst thing you could possibly be, if you are the most horrible, offensive scum of the earth is a women's genitalia.

Dworkin and MacKinnon would argue that the use of cunt reinforces the dehumanization of women or dismembers women to the point that all we can ever be an orifice. No one can deny that the power behind the word cunt is immense.

When I was a Women's Studies student back at University and hung out in a lot of fraternity houses I used the word cunt a lot and I told my professors about it. I thought that by using the word and seeing men's faces freeze in shock as this smiley, little blonde girl uttered *that* word I was taking the power away from cunt. If I could call them a cunt, well then they couldn't call me a cunt now, could they, because it had already been said.


While my professors actually approved of what I was doing looking back I don't think I was truly reclaiming the word. If we want to reclaim the word we need to start using it in a positive light. Anyone who's seen Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" will remember the one called 'Reclaiming Cunt.' In fact I performed 'Cunt,' in front of my mother-in-law no less, several years ago at a charity performance and that is reclaiming the word. 


So back to Hound's tweet. First let me say that his wasn't the only one I saw using gendered language to condone the looters; I saw several tweets calling them pussies as well but his was the only one I saw from someone in the public eye. I can only presume that Hound was trying to be cool (because aren't all comedians who use vulgarity trying to win cool points?) as when I tweeted him calling him out on his sexist tweet he didn't respond.


Am I the only one who calls people out on this? Does cunt make you recoil in disgust or do you embrace and love your cunt?

Feminist Friday XIV: Linguistics

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of the theme for the week. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.


That's it.


You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.


When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 4 days.


Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.


The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Technical Difficulties

So the blog has been pretty silent this week and you'll have to excuse my slacking on Feminist Friday as we've had some technical difficulties which involved some Coke Zero and the laptop--you get the picture? Feminist Friday WILL be back next Friday and the theme is linguistic or language. I've talked about the power of words before but I'm bringing it back again. If you've already written something and are worried you'll forget to link next week please email your link and I will link it up for you.

So apologies for the silence but hopefully we'll be up and running again soon!