Whistlin' Dixie
Swiped unrepentantly from ABDmom, this nifty little look at my linguistic origins:Your Linguistic Profile: |
45% General American English |
30% Yankee |
15% Upper Midwestern |
5% Dixie |
0% Midwestern |
I'm more than a little disappointed that none of the questions picked up on the curious Appalachianisms we think came from my maternal grandmother's family. She had a host of quirky phrases and quips that I assumed were uniquely hers until I read a fascinating article that I have never again been able to find. Enough of the phrases corresponded that I was pretty sure she'd had family or neighbors with Appalachian roots, something confirmed by another family member at my grandfather's funeral.
Itching to respond to ABDmom's post about doctoral anxiety, and to engage somehow with Dr. B's thoughtful post on the "I support legal abortion, but" paradox that dogs feminism (and who is served by having all debates about feminism start and end at reproduction? I agree that our control over our bodies and our sexual and reproductive capacity is perhaps the central issue, but I've noticed that the public response to almost any "feminist" critique of any element of society is to refocus on the issue of abortion.
I suspect that forever returning the debate to abortion serves misogyny in the same way as calling any outspoken woman "strident," or a bitch. Both discredit the logical, rational, philosophical, and practical issues at hand and appeal instead to something visceral, often inarticulable, and sacrosanct--society's presumed revulsion at "unfeminine" women and its kneejerk equivocating about "morality."
And by the above I mean that when critics of women's rights return the debates to abortion from every other sphere of the discussion--not when feminists themselves engage in political debate on the topic. As much as we bloggers try to celebrate feminism as a plurality, its detractors use Americans' incoherent morality to discredit and divide feminists.
posted by Unknown @ 3:36 PM
4 Comments:
Two points:
1. You never told me your birth song, even after I told you mine. Don't make me stop this car, young lady! ;) Fess up!
2. You really should email me. I think we'd have lots to say. Get an anonymous Yahoo email like I did and you'll be all set. :)
Rats--so hoping you'd forget. It's something called "Deep Purple" by Nino Tempo and April Stevens. I can't recall every hearing it, though I suspect I must have.
Yes, but don't you think that feminists really are kind of strident about that whole abortion thing?
(ducks)
Well, aren't feminists strident about every damn thing? Isn't that their problem?
I do think the abortion furor, like the "gay marriage" issue, has been distorted by the right-wing agenda. I am not for a second disagreeing with you, like I said, that the right to one's own body is not CENTRAL to feminism, just pointing out that when it comes from the other side of the fence, the issue is generally counted upon to cause "normal" feminists to eagerly divide themselves from their strident cousins with the "I support abortion but I'm uncomfortable with..." logic you so aptly skewer. I was agreeing with you, darlin'--but not, obviously, very coherently.
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