Language is, no doubt, a differential tool and capacity of human society. Communication has pushed humankind forward in its historical progress. But language, and the proper way of expression is, too, a tricky thing. Last November, an e-mail from the President of our Student Union arrived to our inboxes. “Don’t be a girl!” was the title that, together with its content, ended up turning it as famous as infamous.
Our Student Union President was legitimately concerned about what she considered an on-going “sexist microagression” she had been observing on campus. “Don’t be such a girl!” was the coined expression that, according to her, was violent and was helping perpetuate sexist beliefs.
Indeed, we still live in a world where women are still treated, in many countries and cultures, as lesser beings. From a Western Civilization point of view, this is not only a primitive behavior, but also an unforgivable one. It puts men and their ‘machismo’ in a position of absolute power over the female gender, positioning it in a state of —naturally undeserved— subalternity. It’s one of the ways an established hegemony tramples over what it considers to be inferior.
But then, what ended up being truly surprising was how our President wrote that “it shouldn’t matter what culture you come from or languages you speak” when it comes to these issues. It shouldn’t matter? As a matter of fact, it should and, sincerely, does matter. Cultures don’t matter? That was for me, a person born in Peru —where the native cultures, beliefs, languages and identities were heavily attacked by hegemonic colonization in the past— a cultural microagression: a new implicitly self-proclaimed hegemony trying to disregard any other point of view, not considering cultural and semantic differences as if hers was the only and true word.“We should say what we mean and mean what we say”, she added. So, then, I must assume that for her, what Western Civilization legitimate feminist logic stands for is above everything else: even cultural differences.
Regrettably, I sincerely disagree. Social expressions such as “don’t be such a girl” do have diverse semantic weighs among cultures, for starters. I understand that our Student Union President may see the issue from a line of thought that literary theorists Saul Kripke and Hilary Putnam have come to explain by means of the Direct Reference Theory. Regarding language, words and expressions, this theory is based in the recognition that any concept said is ‘rigid’, reducing it to a state where words and expressions have a unique identity that goes beyond its component properties. Thus, what it is said can only have one meaning, one way of understanding it, since our referencing capabilities have already been delimited by means of ‘rigid designators.’
Nevertheless, this scope was what, gladly, Russian Formalism fought against at the beginning of the 20th Century. “Our perception of the world is gone, what is left is mere recognition”, stated Viktor Sklövski back then. Or of a mere rigid interpretation, going back to the Direct Reference Theory. Thus, Sklövski postulated the concept of ‘defamiliarization’, which was against the automated trend of language, where human communication is composed by nothing else but mere linear —and even static— references: a reductive denotation that is needed to be avoided, given the fact that languages and their social expressions, especially through cultural differences, are richer and always able to imply more and different meanings.
So, yes: “don’t be such a girl” can be seen as a microagression. But it’s, at the same time and regarding different cultures, not necessarily one. I’ve been called that more than once, and been called so even by women. I’ve also heard the simple expression “men!” which in my country alludes to the male gender incapacity to do things the right way, as expected according to women’s standards. But feeling insulted and attacked, making the hegemony vs. subalternity issue arise, has never crossed my mind. In my culture, it’s just an expression; with its own diverse semantic weigh that goes beyond a mere referencing.
I do respect our Student Union President’s opinion: she has a right to say what she thinks. But I do feel that both, oversensitivity and, especially, the urge to oblige the rest to think the way she does, is truly inconsequent, since it goes tragicomically against the very principles she is supposedly defending. Yes, cultures and languages do matter: they are still some of the few worthy traits of humankind. And are, my dear President, to be respected.
Thor Morante
MESPOM, Peru
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