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> I think the brunt of what you're saying comes down to saying 'I don't want to be a better ally' -- why not? No, I'm arguing against the use of the word "ally

> I think the brunt of what you're saying comes down to saying 'I don't want to be a better ally' -- why not? No, I'm arguing against the use of the word "ally". I'll do whatever I can to help people who are discriminated against, but as soon as the measuring stick of "quality of alliance" comes out, I check right the fuck out and hop on the express train to Nopesville. I refuse to have any part in this stupid torture of the English language.

nostrebored 11y ago
What would you prefer to call it? If you'd prefer to use feminism as an abstraction you can break it down as follows: Feminism is a women's movement for women by women. I am not a woman, so I cannot be a feminist, but I can be a feminist ally. The same thread of logic follows for the other movements. As we're talking about the movement of feminism, the "quality of alliance" can be clearly shown by the alignment of your attitudes with the movement's and your support for women you see facing issues related to patriarchal systems/biases. I fail to see how this is a torture of the English language. The same is done with international politics -- clearly we have ways that countries can be better allies to the U.S., if we're making the U.S. the center of focus. Whether or not we should do that is a different discussion.
- sarciszewski 11y ago
  > Feminism is a women's movement for women by women. I am not a woman, so I cannot be a feminist, but I can be a feminist ally. > What would you prefer to call it? I'd prefer the use of the compound noun "feminist ally" over the generic and ambiguous noun "ally". > I fail to see how this is a torture of the English language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuEQixrBKCc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuEQixrBKCc Slight exaggeration for the sake of humor.
  - nostrebored 11y ago
    That's a fair point. Ambiguous use of ally does presume a lot, and does make things a bit more murky.

nostrebored 11y ago

What would you prefer to call it? If you'd prefer to use feminism as an abstraction you can break it down as follows: Feminism is a women's movement for women by women. I am not a woman, so I cannot be a feminist, but I can be a feminist ally. The same thread of logic follows for the other movements. As we're talking about the movement of feminism, the "quality of alliance" can be clearly shown by the alignment of your attitudes with the movement's and your support for women you see facing issues related to patriarchal systems/biases. I fail to see how this is a torture of the English language. The same is done with international politics -- clearly we have ways that countries can be better allies to the U.S., if we're making the U.S. the center of focus. Whether or not we should do that is a different discussion.

sarciszewski 11y ago
> Feminism is a women's movement for women by women. I am not a woman, so I cannot be a feminist, but I can be a feminist ally. > What would you prefer to call it? I'd prefer the use of the compound noun "feminist ally" over the generic and ambiguous noun "ally". > I fail to see how this is a torture of the English language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuEQixrBKCc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuEQixrBKCc Slight exaggeration for the sake of humor.
- nostrebored 11y ago
  That's a fair point. Ambiguous use of ally does presume a lot, and does make things a bit more murky.