TO THE EDITOR:
In light of the recent controversy ignited by gendered and sexist language, I encourage everyone to participate in “Got Gender?” Week. There are a lot of important reasons to support gender equality; the most important for me personally is interpersonal violence prevention. Any type of inequality, even in language, continues to reinforce power dynamics of heterosexual, masculine men over every other type of person.
Using words like “rape,” “whore,” “bitch,” and the like continue to degrade women and desensitize us to the ugliness and prevalence of interpersonal violence. In the same way, telling a woman that she should “get in the kitchen where she belongs” supports the power dynamic already in place. Once it is excepted as common knowledge to a person that women are of lesser value, it is much more acceptable for that person to further degrade and abuse women. However, just because we are physically different in many ways doesn’t mean we don’t deserve the same respect. Women are not the only victims; certainly members of the LGBTQ community and yes, even heterosexual men are victims of interpersonal violence. But it all stems from the gender inequality evident in our society.
If you have questions or even doubts, there are several events around campus every day that focus on gender and the importance of change in our society. Visit http://womenscenter.unc.edu/gotgender/ to get the schedule of events and learn more about “Got Gender?” Week.
Hannah Welch
Junior
Psychology and Sociology
