Zariah Posted February 24, 2003 Report Posted February 24, 2003 Being a senior in high school, I did not live in the 70's, an age where feminism took a stand again, I believe if not incorrect, highest since the period of Woman's suffrage rights. (?) For my art class, I did research on this movement, and I am now addressing it again for my English class. I am reading a book entitled Living By the Word: Essays by Alice Walker. Here, she shows her view of women's rights in essays she writes, but one thing irks me. WHY does she call it "herstory" and not History? I know enough about words to recognize this word comes from another language be it Latin or another, and that history was not made to be sexist. I can't fathom the concept of changing every idea that shows masculinity presiding, (whether it be intentional or not) from masculine to feminine due of a mere irritation of being a woman and not feeling included. Perhaps I am missing something entirely. I remain ignorant, and I want to change this by hearing others' views on the matter. (Since there has already been some "drama" I want to point out that I mean no controversy here and if this becomes and "issue" I will immediately ask for this thread to be deleted.)
Tamaranis Posted February 24, 2003 Report Posted February 24, 2003 That's kinda intersesting... I'm guessing it was just a symbolic thing. The author was probably trying to take a very aggressive stance, because nothing else would serve. Or maybe it was just a clever pun? History before that time was mostly written by men, and since this was a sort of a history written by a woman it might have just seemed like a good title...
Kasmandre Posted February 24, 2003 Report Posted February 24, 2003 Hmm, seeing as we're trying to avoid controversy, I won't make any of the sexist jokes that slip out in real life. I guess its not fair to use them here anyway as the women here can't readily smack me upside the head. So, in the sake of seriousness and education, I'll answer this with my more serious idea on the subject. Basically, during the '70s and the "new" women's movement, the focus was not on getting women tangible things like jobs or the vote. The prevailing issue was the way women are perceived by society. Many saw the use of masculine pronouns where neutral concepts were meant to be a manifestation (there's that word again) of society's masculine leanings. To combat this, many used the feminine pronoun in its place or otherwise removed the masculine part (womyn being a popular example). Also, the word history can basically be seperated to say "his story", implying that history is the "story of man." Walker's reversal of this term brings to light that history is the story of women too. The extremness of the change might simply be the fact that "themstory" or "itstory" sounds stupid and isn't eye catching enough. I could probably ramble about this for pages at a time (that's all college gets you, in my opinion), but I'll stop here, because I think I've made my point. Hope this helps.
Peredhil Posted February 24, 2003 Report Posted February 24, 2003 just on a side note, the root of History comes from the greek word historia (give me a word and I'll show you it come from a Greek! ) historia - inquiry
Vigil StarGazer Posted February 24, 2003 Report Posted February 24, 2003 The problem is actually quite universal: without raising such questions a first year english literature professor addresses to the problem stating: "if it pleases you, you might have considered that the male pronoun is so overuse during the course of its history that it has been serverly neutered to accomidated the neutrality of the sexes it comes to represent."
The Portrait of Zool Posted February 24, 2003 Report Posted February 24, 2003 English is an overwhelmingly male language. Point noted.
Zariah Posted February 24, 2003 Author Report Posted February 24, 2003 Thank you all very much for your information! I am glad to learn new things, and to share thoughts with all members interested.
Canid Posted February 25, 2003 Report Posted February 25, 2003 In all likelyhood, she just thought it was a clever title and was not really making a profound point with it - "a clever pun" as Tamaranis puts it. However, being the Latin lover I am I can't help but respond to Peredhil's Greek comment... historia is also in my Latin-English dictionary, defined as history, inquiry and story. Further-more the closest of the latin words reffering to a male, to the english word "his" was he, whose Latin equivalent is "hic". *grins* Thus this implies that the word history was in no way derived from the male and that it can be broken down into his story just a coincidence. Just thought that'd be of interest. *Canid wonders mildly if she's started a rant trend... *
Lady Celes Crusader Posted February 25, 2003 Report Posted February 25, 2003 I'm with Kas with on this one, the '70's feminist movement had nothing to do with the fight women's rights. It was made in a way that it made men inconfortable around women.
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