{"id":1081,"date":"2015-01-06T06:30:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T14:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2015-05-06T06:31:56","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T14:31:56","slug":"lets-stop-using-the-b-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/06\/lets-stop-using-the-b-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Stop Using The B Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

January 6th:<\/strong> For Posterity<\/a><\/p>\n

Your blog just became a viral sensation. What\u2019s the one post you\u2019d like new readers to see and remember you by? Write that post.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stop using the B word. You know what word I mean. I\u2019m not asking you censor people, or pass judgment on those who use it. I\u2019m not trying to be a prescriptive in any sense. I know how language works (well, as much as anyone can know how language works), so I know we can\u2019t control the evolution of language. But I can ask you to choose to not say that word.<\/p>\n

The word means nothing more than \u201cwomen are inferior.\u201d If you say \u201cthat person is a B-\u201d you\u2019re saying \u201cthat person has the quality of an inferior type of person.\u201d It\u2019s the N- word for women. It\u2019s the S-word for what comes out of a person\u2019s back side.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s no male equivalent. There is no word that means \u201cmen are inferior.\u201d At least, not in English, not that I am aware of. There are very few contexts where calling someone a \u201cman\u201d is an insult. Very few contexts where a man wishes people would stop treating him like a man.<\/p>\n

The word continues to insult women, even when used ironically. We see this in the media all the time. A strong get-things-done woman will say \u201cYeah, I\u2019m a real B- and proud of it.\u201d The statement has force only because if the irony involved\u2014 and the irony requires that the operative word be denigrating. Same as if a person said \u201cYep, I\u2019m the kind of asshole that gets things done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if you come from some belief systems that requires men and women be treated differently, just remember this: no two people are alike, no matter what their gender is. Two woman have nothing more in common than a single strand of chromosome. After that, there\u2019s no way you can say one\u2019s actions, beliefs, or comportments accurately describe the other one. Using gender to identify people is about as predictive as astrology.<\/p>\n

Which means that if your experience with one woman is negative, it\u2019s because of who she is an individual, not because of what women are in general. Pick some random quality in yourself\u2014 like your height. Now go up to someone and spit on them. \u201cThat\u2019s what 5-11s do!\u201d<\/p>\n

Absolutely ridiculous.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m asking you to choose, for yourself, to not say this word anymore. I\u2019m asking you to ask others.I am NOT asking you to force anyone. This word will lose all of it\u2019s power and meaning if we choose to forget about it. If you were told your new boss is a real Mrs. Grundy, would you get a picture in your mind of what she must be like\u2014 or would you instead start to wonder about the person who used the word in the first place? And would you pass it on?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking no. Let\u2019s stop using the B word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January 6th: For Posterity Your blog just became a viral sensation. What\u2019s the one post you\u2019d like new readers to see and remember you by? Write that post. Let\u2019s stop using the B word. You know what word I mean. I\u2019m not asking you censor people, or pass judgment on those who use it. I\u2019m … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Let\u2019s Stop Using The B Word”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-postaday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p24y52-hr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1082,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions\/1082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bukkhead.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}