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This is a great site for in-depth clarification of grammar points - use their search bar.

Sunday 13 April 2014

Lang and Gender but also just flipping watch this, please

This is a TED talk - search these if you would rather watch a vid than read an article to get ideas about issues in Language.

This one is hugely important for human beings, I kid you not. Attitudes towards what it is to be a 'manly' man have to change and this guy, Jackson Katz, talks about how focussing on male violence only as a women's issue is missing the point.

He shows a clever grammar trick that shines light upon how these issues get shifted onto the victim that will help you appreciate the use of active and passive voice and its role in both Gender and Power study.

And he really gets to grips with what a 'man' should do when he hears another man using sexist, degrading language and how difficult it is to do that - it seems like it will take a culture shift to enable a culture shift (but small steps, right?).

He really hits his stride as he goes on, so don't let the emotion at the start put you off.

We may well watch some of this again in lesson, or we may not have time, but it could stand to be watched more than once.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jackson_katz_violence_against_women_it_s_a_men_s_issue

1 comment:

  1. This ted talk is very interesting. I think the approach he suggests, to get men to speak out more, could work. Men are listened to more in society. There are stereotypical ideas that men know best and this gets many people to listen. The point Julia Penelope made was interesting, in the way that just simple alterations to a sentence could change the complete meaning. You can go from one person being the subject to the other person, by just switching their position in the sentence. I had never thought about this before, and I can definitely see how it makes an impact.

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