Feminism, the vote.

[Chris Beckwith]

I like Sally's interpretation of what Option 2 might become if it is
selected, with one quibble:

> research has often had not only a theoretical but a practical aim,
> seeking to understand the linguistic underpinnings of male dominance in
> order to dismantle male privilege.

I would prefer that this sentence be deleted.  (It may be true, but that's
another story.)  Other than that, Sally's statement might be a good first
draft even if Option 1 is selected.

Chris

On Thu, 10 Jun 1999, Sally McConnell-Ginet wrote:

> I've been lurking and trying to weigh the options presented for a vote.
> I'm not sure that I really like any of the options as laid out.  Although I
> strongly endorse a feminist orientation of the general sort detailed by
> Alice Freed (but with some reservations of the sort Miriam Meyerhoff
> expressed about how the "practical" part gets realized), I do think it is
> important to be inlusive and also important not to bog ourselves down in
> negotiating definitions of "feminism."  Several people have said they want
> some mention of feminist contributions to the study of gender and language,
> while also not wanting to exclude queer theorists or folks studying
> masculinities or others who might not self-identify as feminists.  Maybe
> this is what (2) aims at but I'm not completely sure.
>
> How about something like:
>
> GALA is an organization that seeks to promote research on the interaction
> of gender and language.  This field of scholarly inquiry began developing
> in response to feminist concerns about the ways in which sex, power, and
> language connect to one another; research has often had not only a
> theoretical but a practical aim, seeking to understand the linguistic
> underpinnings of male dominance in order to dismantle male privilege.
> Queer theorists have brought the linguistic dimensions of sexualities and
> hetersexism into the picture.  Critical studies of language and racial
> identities, ethnicities, and masculinities have also expanded the field far
> beyond what was included under the early "women and language" rubric.  GALA
> is being started to help foster more regular productive exchanges among
> scholars of language and gender with many different research emphases and
> orientations and from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.
>
> I'm voting for (2), construing it along the above lines.
>
>
> Sally McConnell-Ginet
> Professor of Linguistics
> Chair, Department of Linguistics
> Morrill Hall, Cornell
> Ithaca, NY 14853
> 607-255-6469
> (Linguistics office: 255-1105, 255-3384)
> FAX: 607-255-2044
>