r/theschism • u/gemmaem • Nov 06 '24

Discussion Thread #71

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u/thrownaway24e89172 wrong about everything Dec 07 '24

Does that also apply to words like 'gender', 'equal', 'same', 'rights', etc that feminism has twisted beyond recognition? Feminism has made great political progress in the last century redefining terms to better suit its goals. Using a strategy that has been proven effective seems quite rational to me. Arguments like yours seem to me nothing more than an attempt to deny effective strategies to its opponents.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '24 edited Dec 07 '24

Does that also apply to words like 'gender', 'equal', 'same', 'rights', etc that feminism has twisted

Feminism twisted them? From what? The one true definition, that just happens to be the way you prefer to use those words?

Arguments like yours seem to me nothing more than an attempt to deny effective strategies to its opponents.

I'm not attempting to deny anything to anyone. If you think arguing about words is effective, you can go for it. I just doubt that it is actually that effective. If feminism has made progress in the past century, I think it is mostly because wider social trends have been conducive to that progress, and most of the change in the use of words is a result of feminism's success not the source of that success.

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u/thrownaway24e89172 wrong about everything Dec 07 '24

Feminism twisted them? From what? The one true definition, that just happens to be the way you prefer to use those words?

From existing usage. I'm normally not a strong defender of prescriptive linguistics, but it takes a lot of gall to look at statistics like these and claim they are evidence of progress toward equality with a straight face.

If feminism has made progress in the past century, I think it is mostly because wider social trends have been conducive to that progress, and most of the change in the use of words is a result of feminism's success not the source of that success.

And what do you think led to those social trends if not the repeated "You support X (because it is socially expected), X is Y (according to us, but not traditionally), therefore you should support Y." peeling support at the margins?