Content warning: This post includes, as you may imagine from the title, discussions of rape and sexual assault, and parts of it are graphic. One of the many obstacles faced in combating rape and sexual assault is that people are often reluctant to name these acts. While this may seem like a primarily academic concern, […]
Tag: language matters
Language Matters: ‘Undocumented’ versus ‘Illegal’
Immigration has been a simmering issue in the United States for a long time, and I suspect that it is about to explode in the very near future. Tensions are building and the economy is crumbling, and that’s going to lead to, well, problems. Problems like the horrific law recently passed in Arizona mandating that […]
Language Matters: Framing Rape
There’s some terminology surrounding rape which I think is worth some brief discussion and exploration. The language we use to talk about any issue is important, for a lot of reasons, and in the case of rape, the language that we choose to use can either reinforce or tear down problematic ideas about rape and […]
Language Matters: Why I Say ‘Climate Change,’ Not ‘Global Warming’
I am a huge fan of clarity in language. There are a number of different reasons for this. One of the key reasons is that I like people to know what I am talking about, so I try to use mutually accessible terms, or to define terms when I use them so that there can […]