Blue Notes from a Red Zone

To the Victor, Goes the Word

Being a writer, I spend a lot of my time choosing words. I call them up, examine them for freighted meanings, contemplate the implications, and then try to select those words that convey the precise message I have in my mind. I know the power of words.

Which is why an article by Gloria Steinem caught my attention. She describes sitting on a plane with a young man, who groaned out loud at the movie selections, saying he refused to watch "chick flicks." Ms. Steinem pondered the significance of the word choice, thinking what messages lie in the current categorizations. Movies that appeal to men are just that, movies; but movies that are pitched to women are a subset, the value of which is denigrated by a condescending title. Ms. Steinem then proposes that violent, gory films that treat women as potential rape victims should be given their own, dismissive category: prick flick.

Language reveals a great deal about a culture. The sex and race of the power group becomes the normative standard for literary purposes. A leader is a white male of European descent, unless qualified as "African-American," "Hispanic," or "woman." A head of household is a male until proven otherwise. And let's not even begin to discuss the frame provided by our gender classifications, which are literally "man" and "of man."

These points are considered trivial and petty when raised by feminists, but are taken quite seriously when language appears to skew in favor of the underclass. As a woman who has worked in the field of sexual assault for many years, I have become increasingly frustrated with the substitution of "accuser" for "rape victim." When Kobe Bryant's legal team successfully tore apart the credibility of Mr. Bryant's victim, defense attorneys took note. Almost overnight, "rape victim" vanished from the lexicon, as a term too likely to provoke sympathy for the woman. Accuser is much better, as it gives a shrewish cast to the victim, making her sound like someone whose plausibility is suspect. It's the word of choice in courtrooms, news media accounts, and talk radio.

Recently a Nebraska judge has gone one further and banned the terms "rape," "sexual assault" and "victim" from trials in which the crime being prosecuted is, in fact, rape or sexual assault (depending on the state statute in question). An "accuser" cannot seek to win the support of the jury by saying, "he raped me." She has to use language that leaves open the idea that the act might have been consenual. Whereas a victim of a lesser crime can say: "the defendant robbed me," the victim of an intimate attack must use "neutral" language.

The ability of language to influence outcomes cannot be understated. Kobe Bryant used language, innuendo, and leaks of false "facts" to tear a victim to shreds. The fact that Bryant later admitted to having sex without consent (the definition of rape) left no impression. Those words carried no freight compared to what had been widely bandied about before.

These outcomes are not restricted to male dominance and female subordinance. We have been at war for five years, in part because our language is geared to favor the active tense over more complex configurations. "Nuke 'em back to the Stone Age," has more resonance than, "it is essential to differentiate between the varying Islamic groups, including Arabic and non-Arabic, Sunni and Shia, radical and moderate." The first phrase could be taken from "Die Hard." The second phrase is more attuned to "Sleepless in Seattle."

Despite the tenor of this essay, I'm not trying to play Sisyphus, endlessly seeking to perform an impossible task. I'm not suggesting we change the language - just our reactions to it. We can talk about movies versus chick flicks, as long as we realize that chick flicks ultimately have more power. We live in the world that chick flicks tend to depict, while "movies" are pure fantasy. I have no issue with fantasy (I am a big Harry Potter fan), but we need to be grounded in reality, with a touch of hope.

And my hope is that we use our language to frame a just, free, and compassionate world, that gives value to all men and women of good will.

posted by Lenore Wilson @ 1:16 AM