For fuck’s sake. You think that Robert Kennedy Jr. would know better. But in talking about the press, which has dropped the ball and done all the WH’s dirty work, we get this:
And where is the press which recently tolerated the impeachment of the sitting president for lying about an extramarital tryst? My prediction: the emasculated stenographers who make up the White House press corps will ignore this latest outrage as they have prior Bush White House deceptions on critical public policy issues ranging from global warming, to the budget deficit, Medicaid and the war in Iraq.
Enough of this bullshit already. Courage does not equal masculinity. Standing up to someone does not require testicles. Doing the right thing does not mean that you are a male.
This is not about political correctness. This is about progressive men “getting” that engaging in “my dick is bigger than your dick” contests over political issues is getting … how shall I say? TIRESOME.
Stop using adolescent male language and grow the fuck up already!
SO, WHAT ARE YOU CRANKY ABOUT. FEEL FREE TO BITCH ABOUT IT! (omg, I couldn’t resist. 🙂
Update [2005-6-10 9:51:19 by lorraine]: Please consider this a heat-induced, pissed-off, tirade. Normally, I’d just go ahead and delete it, but the comments have been so good, it’d be a shame to lose ’em. So, all I’ll say is that I’m not normally this pissy. And perhaps if if RFK had said, these reporters need to act more “amazonian,” this whole thing could have been averted on my part.
Well, he is a Kennedy after all. Sort of runs in that family.
But seriously, whenever I’ve seen him speak he seems very respectful of women. Maybe he was having a cranky day to. He is one of the Kennedys of his generation for whom I have a great deal of respect.
And maybe I’ve just got a hair the size of Gotham up my ass, but I’m getting so tired of the “if you don’t oppose the president, you don’t have any balls” stuff. (Maybe because I don’t have any balls.)
But yes, you are right. I’m more than willing to extend him the benefit of the doubt. But not right this second. It’s too hot–global warming and all–ironically, one of RFK’s major issues.
you have gonads! Well-protected from the enemy, too.
And ain’t it too bad…no dick for people to try to yank you around by!
So…is there something else yanking your chain?
It’s amazing how deeply embedded these terms/words are.
Pointing it out like you – and others here have – when it occurs shows (1) how often it occurs, and (2) how accepted it is as evidenced by those who choose to say it.
It is so engrained that most people don’t even realize they are contributers.
I still remember a seminar I attended a long time ago (~15 years) as part of my nursing education on culture, that was organized by African-Canadian women. During that day, our group learned that there were certain words that were used every day that were considered demeaning and racist to these women and others. It was eye opening, as we had never considered ourselves to be racist or supporting racism …
I’m rambling, but the point I wanted to make was that word choice matters. It wasn’t until we were given the opportunity to really listen to those who were affected by it, that we could understand their perspective.
I’ve never forgotten that seminar, or those women. We weren’t conscious of it before, but I can tell you afterwards, we were damn conscious of it … and amazed how insidious it was. I see the same thing with gender-based insults.
I’ve done the same thing. And I know we can get dragged down into PC censorship and I don’t want to go down that slope, I’m just asking that if a man has a point to make about courage, that he not resort to using metaphors of masculinity to make his point. English is a rich, vibrant language. And we have lots of cool profanity (as you may have noticed, I drop the “f” bomb a lot.) But can we please find another way to say “gutless” without calling it “being w/o balls?”
But…but…
Disclaimer: I am male. And a rather clueless one at most times.
I had to read that blurb 3 times before I realized which word had made you cranky. So I looked it up in the dictionary. I would be likely to use that same word in the same context, without a thought to the fact that the historical context of the word is sexist. In my mind, and I would guess RFK Jr’s as well although I have no way of knowing, emasculate means “deprived of strength or vigor”. In fact I’m fairly sure I didn’t know that it has a second meaning of “to castrate”
You have every right to be cranky, and I can assure you that I will think twice before using the word emasculate in such a context in the future but I really have to question you characterization of emasculate as adolescent male language. Most adolescent males would have no idea what emasculate means, and those that do probably haven’t thought about the gender roots of the word.
Thank you for enlightening me as to a potentially sexist word, but I think RFK Jr could be cut at least a little slack here. He didn’t say “the White House press corp needs to grow a pair” or something like that.
tee hee.
I agree. I assumed that emasculate was a common term, when really, I should have congratulated RFK jr. for using a multi-syllabic word that means “ball-less.”
See? I told you I’m cranky. Someone get me a damn palm frond to wave at me and peel me a grape, wouldya?
Hi Lorraine,
You have a point–macho rhetoric should not be necessary to make such a point, and it is fundamentally not a progressive framing.
I listen to RFK Jr. a lot (and I’ll see him here in Colorado next month!), and I think this was just a lapse on his part. While we can’t realistically pounce on every such locution, we should in general be able to expect better from leaders like him.
(It’s been raining like hell here for days and days, which I also think is global warming-related. Rain’s what makes me cranky–if it’s going to precipitate, it could at least be courteous enough to snow. 🙂 Weather can be seen as a closed system, and we’re simply cranking up one of its inputs to new levels. We’re just going to see more weather in general, of all types…)
I have every reason to believe that RFK has integrity, and it was a momentary slip. I’m venting, but I’m also just trying to point out in my ultra-diplomatic way (uh-huh) that sometimes, hearing this stuff is tiresome.
I hear ya on the rain–although my poor garden could use a good dousing about now.
how language is dug in so deep that even otherwise enlightened people don’t hear themselves using it. It probably tends to happen more when we’re pissed, and it sounds like he was pissed.
This diary would so start a flame war elsewhere!
I love this place. Crank away.
Lemme think, am I cranky about something this morning? Yes, dammit! I’m cranky after reading about the travails of a friend of mine who has been dealing with a certain huge moving company in a cross country move. It has been an unbelievably difficult experience for her but, by god, I think she’s winning. She’s a lawyer, though. That, apparently, is what it takes.
I was so thinking that this would have been like pouring gasoline on a certain fire. 🙂
I’m sorry about your friend, but it sounds like she’s handling it. I think today is just a day for crankiness. Maybe I should open this thread up…
I agree that it is hard to find a line here.
I assume that most people aren’t acting maliciously by using these words – hell, I’ve thrown around my fair share of bitch/dickhead/ball-less/etc., but I do think it is interesting that we’ve begun to identify it, when it’s used, why it’s used, and talk about it.
How else do we learn? Being able to talk about this stuff with others is a great opportunity. I love it.
Thank you, Olivia. I guess that’s my hope. Not to have a flame war, but just to have a discussion–because I use some of these terms, too, and I’m trying to be conscious of how I do it and why. I actually hope we can laugh about it–‘coz I’m not humourless when it comes to this–when I get going, I can let out a string of profanity that usually accuses someone of sexual relations with animals….
don’t have the balls to question Bush! I think that they should take off their skirts, stop sitting down when they pee, and let Bush have it. Those “Nancy-boys” need to get some hair on their chests and sprout some cajones. So get them to stop sipping their daquiris and eating their quiche and be men enough to face Bush down!
(How was that? That was about all of the cliches I could think of for the moment…)
Oh Wry!! How wonderful to see you. You just made me laugh out loud.
I know I’m being cranky, and that’s what’s so great about having someone jolly me out of my foul temper.
you forgot ‘girly-men’ 😉
Hello Lorraine,
I consider myself a feminist, but diaries like yours always make me profoundly uncomfortable. When I speak or write I aim for accuracy and effectiveness. If I were in RFK’s shoes I probably would have used that phrase or something similar. It would not have crossed my mind that it would offend; my thought would have been that any listener would instantly grasp the intention of my statement.
Maybe I need to get over this discomfort because the only way to learn that I need to change and be more careful with my language is to listen to what others have to say. Words have power, words define the world we percieve. When I was much younger I lacked the ability to empathize with people hurt by racial epithets; it took maturity to see the subtle evil propagated by using racial slurs at any time in any context. Sexist comments are in the same category.
But is there an appropriate place for adolescent male language? I guess I am hoping so, otherwise we lose people like the Rude Pundit and probably Jesus’ General and Goddess knows I think we need those guys in this day and age. But maybe that language isn’t appropriate in the press conference?
I love the Rude Pundit–I agree with you that in certain contexts, I have no problem with it. And I’ve been known to make incredibly offensive male-anatomy based insults myself. I really don’t want to be the police.
I guess what set me off was that it was a press conference, and the insult he used was “emasculated.” Now, I realize that’s an incredibly powerful language to use, but it also implies that a real man would stand up to Bush. So, does that mean that a woman who stands up to Bush is a real man?
I’m more than aware that today, I’m just feeling persnickety and out of sorts. Most other days, I might have just let it slide. But today, well, it rankled.
I once witnessed something. I was at a table with several African-American people and several white people. One of the white people said to a person who had just done something really decent, “that was mighty white of you.” It was not intended to offend, but of course, it did.
So, you can attribute this to having my extra-sensitive antennae on today, but I appreciate the chance for dialogue. Because you know what? Maybe I’m being completely unrealistic about this and need to get over myself. I’m ready to accept that, too.
My friends growing up used that term all the time…also, if you asked them to grab you a beer on their way into the kitchen they’d say, “What color do you think I am…” Or how about this one, when we were all pitching in for beer and someone was trying to short change the pot, someone would say, “Come on you Jew, pitch in your money…”
Oh, we white folk are funny aint we? And guess what, people in my hometown still speak that way!
that the reporter with the biggest cojones, to continue the male metaphors,is Helen Thomas! Let’s have more “emasculated” reporters like her.
bwahahaha. Poor Helen. Moved to the back of the room. Of course, Ann Coulter called her an “old Arab.”
Funny, when I read that about Ann Coulter, agitprop popped into my head. After looking it up, I guess it fits, but I think the real reason it occurred to me is because Ann Coulter is just another political prop used by the Right Wing.
They take someone with the same physical packaging of one of our own (Helen Thomas, Martin Luther King), and give us one of their many mindless clones (Ann Coulter, Clarence Thomas).
Its no surprise the Bush administration goes out of its way to fill its seats with underrepresented people — to disarm a very potent tool called Equality that the Democrats have wielded. But in every population, there will always be an Alberto Gonzalez.
As to emasculated, I guess it made me think of eunuchs.
Re-reading the definitions, I definitely see your point. But when I read the quote, my mind went to the word origin (also on that page).
Eunuchs were men who were physically altered to make them compliant to their masters, and to render them harmless and not a ‘threat’. I guess that’s an easy way to control a man.
And its hard to argue that the press is not compliant or much of a threat to this administration, whether we’re talking male or female reporters.
But I get your point on the word-choice, and wouldn’t suggest that eunuch would have been any better in that context.
Goddamn right! I don’t have a penis and I frequently step up to the right thing.
Why does the press corps have to be “emasculated”? I would call it “corporatized”.
people get cranky. Language is loaded with power concepts. The relationships of power. He’s using white male speech.
Adrienne Rich wrote of “naming and mourning damage, keeping pain vocal so it cannot become normalized and accepted.”
Someone needs to clue him in on choices of words. And silences imposed by the exclusion of others.
Well, don’t just sit there. Go ahead. Be the one to tell him.
(Applause)
He was using a METAPHOR.
RFK is my hero. No, I don’t agree with him on everything
but this is over the top criticism.
Sybil. I apologize if I insulted your hero. I’m not going to get into an argument with you, simply because there has been enough fighting. . As I have said repeatedly through this thread, I appreciate the dialogue. Feel free to write a diary extolling Mr Kennedy’s work. I’m more than happy to read it.
All the best,
Lorraine
Courage doesn’t equal masculinity for damn sure. I have ovaries and I think I have intermitten moments of courage followed by long periods of being too stupid to know when to be scared.
or too oblivious, or too concerned with other things to notice danger….just described me. A few people have called me brave, and I’m like “What the hell are you talking about?” I’m a big ol’ chicken. Don’t mistake my idiocy for bravery.
Sure, it would’ve been better to say “gonad-free” or “ovary-lacking”, but those phrases would’ve distracted from the main thrust (sorry) of the message, which was about the press being subservient to the Bush Administration. Eunuchs (this I know from Chinese history) were all men who’d had their balls cut off (I’ve seen in the National Palace Museum in Beijing the elaborate little urns the Eunuchs kept their former balls in) so they could more effectively (and loyally) serve the Emperor. To me this is an appropriate metafor for what the corporate media (call it the eunuch media) is these days — servants of their lord. Perhaps the phrase “eunuch press” would’ve been better, but I suspect you probably would have the same objection.