Male Hegemony
Hey DC is celebrating the APA Pride and Heritage Month . and KhushDC is a part of the team of organizations working for it. Well, read the article in the Blade.
As I was reading the article what struck me was the description
of KhushDC as a organisation serving ‘gay’ south asians. APIQS is
also described as an organization for gay API women.
Today, often we find the use of "gay" to denote the whole gamut
of sexualities (other than the dominant heterosexuality), something
I have ranted about before.
I was wondering how other people think about it. Its not convenient
always to use LGBT, he/she etc. After all, language is a means of
communication and as long as people understand that one is not trying
to be chauvinist, it should be okay! One could argue that if language
was too encumbered with PC phrases, it might be too
complicated/distracting to convey the ‘theme’.
However, speech could also reflect latent prejudices/social attitudes.
Language could goes a long way in establishing cultural/social/gender-based
hegemony as well. In that respect is using ‘gay’ for all things queer,
another symptom of male dominance in society? Does it in a very subtle,
unnoticeable way perpetrate chauvinism ?
to summarise: To what extent should speech be politically correct? and
does speech always reflect latent prejudices?
