4 ms·
Speaking as a man, I would prefer that we use the term woman. As in, "Speaking as a Woman". The term female is without species. Female giraffe? Female water
by o0-0o 12y ago
Speaking as a man, I would prefer that we use the term woman. As in, "Speaking as a Woman". The term female is without species. Female giraffe? Female water buffalo? Female human!
- cookiecaper 12y agoThis type of specienormativism is an example of the pure bigotry that is holding all of us back! Who are you to say that the speaker is not a female giraffe? Why do you assume she wouldn't be? We all have the right to self-define, and then brutally ostracize people who reject our self-definitions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin
- mralvar 12y agoYeah I agree the term female has this almost creepy de-humanizing sound to it.
- frandroid 12y agoIn other languages such as French, female is applied exclusively to non-human animals.
- hvs 12y agoI think the "speaking" part clarifies the species.
- longlivegnu 12y agoI don't think so, apes speak to each other and you cannot understand them. Dolphins speak to each other and you cannot understand them. Speaking is not a human only action.
- wxs 12y agoThey're referencing the structure of the phrase "Driving While Black". It gets the feeling of oppression across in 3 words in a way that "Speaking as a Woman" would not.
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- Jun8 12y agoI guess they wanted to mirror the "Driving While Black" phrase (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_While_Black http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_While_Black).
- VLM 12y agoNote that you changed it from "while" implying temporary, to "as" implying permanence. The temporary-ness of the title has a very strange angle having nothing to do with the story. Given the title I expected a story about the experiences of MtoF trans- people speaking out. Which would have probably been more interesting than the actual story.
- ipsin 12y agoI think the title was meant to make the reader feel uncomfortable, and to echo the concept of "Driving While Black".
- Torgo 12y agoSpeaking as a male, I would prefer we use the terms male and female. Because they don't carry all the anglo cultural connotations that come along with "man" and "woman".
- dragonwriter 12y ago> The term female is without species. Since the issue being discussed was gender, not species, that's appropriate.
- vacri 12y agoWhile yes, they were going for a poetic comparison to 'Driving whilst black', I'd prefer we use 'woman' as the noun and 'female' as the adjective. 'Woman driver' and 'woman CEO' are phrases we see that don't have the counterparts 'man driver' or 'man CEO', for example.
- dragonwriter 12y ago> While yes, they were going for a poetic comparison to 'Driving whilst black', I'd prefer we use 'woman' as the noun and 'female' as the adjective. It was using "female" as the adjective. If it was being used as a noun, it would have to be "Driving while a female".
- vacri 12y agoSorry, I meant to make that more as a broader point, not about that phrase specifically.