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Mon May 5 14:40:31 UTC 2008

I was thinking of it as an educational tool in 
training volunteers at Austin's women's shelter. 
These trainings are (among other things) a form 
of intervention (some new volunteers are 
well-meaning but relatively uninformed).  The 
woman who runs the volunteer trainings at our 
shelter thought it might be useful.

On my last visit to Calgary (in Canada), I 
noticed that short films with public service 
messages are being played before the main 
features at movie theatres.  One I saw had an 
environmental theme (e.g. emphasis on simple 
things all of us can do to conserve resources), 
another had an "anti-bullying" theme, and seemed 
to be aimed at adolescents.  The video we saw 
might be a bit stark to play in an entertainment 
context (?) but something less aggressive might 
fly.

>It could be a "warning" type film for young 
>adults, but even then it might be met with a 
>response like "oh, I'd never let that happen". 
>It's an interesting question, though, who the 
>audience is for this.  Mothers who should be 
>leaving their abusive husbands?  Policy makers 
>who need to pay more attention to this issue? 
>Abusive spouses to see the effects on their 
>children?
>
>Sarah

Teachers in training, who might encounter 
children from abusive homes?  University 
students, in various kinds of classes (public 
policy? Rhetoric? Media studies? Sociology? 
Public health? ...)?  Medical personnel, and 
those in other helping professions?

- Megan

>----- Original Message ----
>From: "Campbell, Heather" <hecampbell at CSU.EDU.AU>
>To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2008 7:03:52 PM
>Subject: Re: [GALA-L]
>
>I agree, Laura. I have found this discussion 
>very interesting, and I certainly accept the 
>cultural differences that are in play here, but 
>my concern was not about the language in terms 
>of its 'foulness'; I'm not particularly 
>squeamish about letting a swear word fly, even 
>in front of my four year old daughter. But never 
>*at* her, and I think it is the combination of 
>the actions and the language used as if directed 
>at a person that made me uncomfortable for the 
>child.
>
>
>
>The language used and violence depicted does 
>make the film somewhat problematic if it is 
>intended for use as an educational tool. I would 
>certainly not be allowed to show such a film in 
>primary (elemental) school, and there may be 
>difficulties in getting it shown in secondary 
>school. But I may well use it with the tertiary 
>education students I teach, and get their 
>responses. I have shown several of my 
>colleagues, and they have each had a similar 
>reaction to mine, in that their concern for the 
>child overshadowed their agreement with the 
>anti-abuse message contained within the film.
>
>
>
>Thank you to everyone who has contributed to 
>this discussion; much food for thought.
>
>
>
>Heather
>
>Australia
>
>
>
>From: International Gender and Language 
>Association 
>[mailto:GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On 
>Behalf Of Laura Tolton
>Sent: Sunday, 4 May 2008 12:48 PM
>To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>Subject: [GALA-L]
>
>
>
>Several comments have focused on "strong 
>language" and how shocking this is depending on 
>what culture we use to understand it.  Let's not 
>lose sight of the fact that this is a portrayal 
>of abuse, both physical and verbal/emotional. 
>The individual words used may be strong or not, 
>but the message, the actions and the 
>implications are essential to understanding the 
>film.  The words used don't have to be 
>particularly strong-there is a strong message. 
>The message from the girl to her doll is in fact 
>quite typical of messages communicated in 
>abusive marriages, in examples I have knowledge 
>of from both Colombia (Bogotá) and the United 
>States (small town, Midwest), as well as what I 
>have learned from readings about abusive talk in 
>other places.  *Swearing* (which occurs in the 
>English translation more than the Spanish 
>version) is not what makes something abusive or 
>not!
>
>"Being direct, argumentative and coming out 
>strong is a positive thing and children are 
>exposed to and learn to use fighting words 
>early".
>In response, I have to say that I cannot believe 
>that this use of language somehow empowers the 
>girl-she is acting out abuse, as if she were her 
>father!  Sometimes the message communicated 
>through actions is easier to understand as 
>abusive than a message communicated using words. 
>If we consider the girl rubbing the doll's face 
>in the food, is that empowering the girl? 
>Whether she is supposedly learning to act like 
>her mother or her father, I do not see how this 
>could be an empowering experience for her.
>
>
>
>
>
>Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all 
>with Yahoo! Mobile. 
><http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51733/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ >Try 
>it now.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Megan J. Crowhurst, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Graduate Advisor, Linguistics
All advising email should go to megancrowhurst at gmail.com

Snail mail address:

The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Crowhurst
Department of Linguistics
1 University Station B5100
Austin, TX   78712-5100
USA

Phone:  512-471-1701
Fax:    512-471-4340

My home page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~crowhurs/index.html
Department home page: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/linguistics/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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