Raven J. James
1 min readJan 5, 2021

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I think the interesting thing about language is how much certain words depends on context. Overall, I think this (and my article as a whole) is really about respecting what people want to be called.

Tone and intention are extremely important. When I was younger, my girlfriends (and gay friends) and I would jokingly call each other the B word. (i.e. "B-word please", "B-word I cannot with you"). Similar to how female can function as derogatory and dehumanizing, the B word does the same. I wouldn't tolerate my husband or any man calling me the B-word especially in the context in which they are using it to insult me.

In your quote, I see that B-word is being used as a direct replacement for 'Women' which is blatantly insulting and misogynistic. It's also displaying this idea of exclusivity and sexism. "This group was great until the women showed up". Both the tone and and intent are hostile, so I don't like it.

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Raven J. James
Raven J. James

Written by Raven J. James

Writer | Entrepreneur | Blogger | Dreamer | Pro-Oxford Comma; Feel free to check out my blog at www.serendipityandsuch.com

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