Not an editor, but an editor, not an expert, but an expert, not a professor, but a professor … All these are feminities – words with which some women determine their professional affiliation. We talked with experts whether they contradict the rules of the Russian language, whether the stereotypes can change and why someone in every possible way opposes their use, and someone with both hands behind.
I am preparing this text and imagine bloody battles with a corrector. Most likely, every “editor” and “expert” will have to be conquered with a battle. It will not be easy to do – if only because my whole being opposes the use of feminity.
Perhaps you have never heard these words, but the supporters of the feminist movement actively insist on their use. From their point of view, the absence of these words in the language directly reflects the patriarchal attitudes of our society, in which women are still on the second roles. But they seem to be in the minority.
Many women prefer that their specialty sounds in a masculine kind: whatever one may say, there is something dismissive in “lecturers” and “accountants”. “Lecturer” and “accountant” sounds more significant, more professional. In any case, while.
“We are talking about an ideological conflict”
Anna Potsar, philologist
We are not talking about word formation as such, but about the ideological conflict behind it. The words “author”, “expert” are new in themselves, they are not in dictionaries. The more familiar “author”, “ticket”, “editor” are perceived as dismissive. The words of the feminine formed with the help of the suffix “K” sound more neutral.
But the matter is different. Each such word contains a conflict of two ideologies. According to the first, there is a language system in which professional affiliation is indicated by the words of the masculine. Thus, the centuries -old superiority of men is officially enshrined.
Carriers (and for the most part – carriers) of alternative ideology believe that the female family has equal rights. They not only declare, but rather emphasize and “stick out” this moment of the confrontation of male and female, declare their rights to equal status with men.
Thus, the verbal units of “author”, “editor”, “expert” contain this confrontation. These are the so -called “polyphonic words” in which different points of view come across. And we can say with confidence that they will not be stylistically neutral in the foreseeable future and will not become normative verbal units.
“A look at the world through the eyes of a woman”
Olgert Kharitonova, feminist philosopher
“Language is a house of being,” said Heidegger, a philosopher, I’ll clarify a man. The philosopher Arendt, despite Heidegger’s cooperation with the Nazis, recalls him as one of the most significant philosophers of the
twentieth century. At the same time, Arendt is also a very significant figure in political theory, psychology and philosophy of the twentieth century. For nothing that a woman. And you read the “Philosopher Redt” and you will not think that a woman can be a philosopher. Maybe.
Women in general can be engineers, locksmiths, plumbers, leaders, talents, colonels and pilots.
So, language is the House of Genesis. It is in the language that being lives and exists. That which is not in the language, then does not live, that is not in life. There is no woman-professor, because so far in the Russian language the professor is the wife of the professor, and the words “professor” do not exist. So, a woman-professor has no place in the language, and therefore, she has no place in life. Nevertheless, I myself know several women working as a professor.
Gender stereotypes can be broken only turned upside down, changing the angle of view to the opposite
Feminitives are designed to eliminate this nonsense and injustice. They are needed to make women visible in professional areas, in the field of politics, and in the social field, where a woman is mainly a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, and not the head of the city and not the creator of a new reality.
Gender stereotypes, like any others, can be broken only, only turning everything upside down, changing the angle of view to the opposite. Until now, we are looking at society and the eyes of men in it. Feminitives suggest looking at the world through the eyes of women. In this case, not only the look changes, but also the world.
“The value of belonging to your floor”
Julia Zakharova, Clinical Psychologist
The appearance of feminity is associated with the anti -discrimination movement. It appeared as a contrast between the idea of “another, different from me, from most – it means a stranger”. But if at the beginning of this movement in the focus there was equality: “All people are equal, the same!”, Now it has seriously modified. Consider everyone equal, equating women to men, as well as discriminatively inherently. The appearance of feminity reflects the modern slogan of the anti -discrimination movement – “Respect the differences!”.
Women are different from men, they do not want to be equated to men. The female floor is not weak, and not equal to the male. He is just different. This is the essence of gender equality. Understanding this fact is reflected in the language. It is important for many women today to demonstrate not equality to a man, but the value of belonging to their floor.
“Unusual often seems ugly”
Suyumbika Davlt-Kildeev, DJITAL-SOISOLOGINE
Of course, feminity is important. This is very simple: until the phenomenon is fixed in the language, it is not fixed in the mind. Many are bombed from the word “author”, and usually those who express indignation about him, rest that they are full of female authors and they have all the rights, but this is not so.
Recently, the poetess Faina Grimberg had a text that, no matter how hard the woman was trying, she still could not write like a man, because her biological purpose is not to give birth to texts and meanings, but by children. And while this thought responds in their heads, we need to talk about the author and writers in the female gender, so that even the latest skeptics have no doubt that a woman can write no worse than a man.
More about feminity often say that they sound unusual and disfigure the tongue, but these are all nonsense. For example, the words “parachute” and “gulf” seem ugly to me, but this is exactly the same subjective assessment. Unusual often seems ugly, but this is a matter of time. When these words will stand, they will stop cutting a hearing. This is the natural development of the language.
“Stupid remodeling of the tongue”
Elena Pogrebizhskaya, director
Personally, it cuts me a rumor. In my opinion, this is a rather stupid remodeling of the tongue. Since in the Russian language many professions are called in a masculine, you guys write “author” and “lawyer”, too much conceit, if you think that since you wrote so, now the Russian language will bend under you and accept thiscrap per normal.
“The opportunity to make a contribution of women visible”
Lilith Mazikina, writer
I know that many colleagues believe that the “journalist” sounds unprofessional and will be better to appear as a journalist (and necessarily a poet, because the poet is such a fake poet), but I, as a journalist, consider journalists to prove their professionalism in the history of the XX and XXI centurythe workshops of the pen, keyboard, cameras and microphone. So I usually write to myself: a journalist, writer, poet. Could “poetess”, but I really love polonisms among the new feminists popular among some of the feminists, about the fact that I am “-ka” with the greatest warmth.
If some new words generally introduce a large number of people into their speech, then there is a request for them. How wide it is and how long it lasts, the question is different. I and many other feminists have a request to make women’s contribution to the profession, science to make it visible so that professionalism is not associated only with a male family and, therefore, sex. Language reflects our consciousness and affects consciousness, this is a scientific fact, and I rely on it when I welcome visible feminities.
“Donation of political correctness”
Anna s., journalist
Perhaps over time, feminity is integrated into the language, but now this is the same tribute to political correctness as writing “in Ukraine”. Therefore, personally it is somewhat firing me.
I do not insult me in the household sense if they write “the doctor prescribed”. I do not see any infringement in this, but I agree that this may be inconvenient from the point of view of selecting verbs in the right one if the character is unfamiliar. For example, “lawyer Kravchuk” – how to understand whether he is or she? In general, although I am aware of the plasticity and diversity of the language, at the moment the established norms for me are more important.
“I would not want to be called psychologists, but do not mind calling that who insists on this,” says Julia Zakharova at the end of our conversation. I agree with her. Being an editor is more familiar to me than an editor or editors. Probably, I am a much less feminist than I used to think, and much more conservative. In a word, there is something to think about.