Saturday 2 July 2011

who/m

My wife's inescapable alarm awakes me to the sleepy meanderings of my dreaming mind.
I am thinking of the feminine style of receptiveness; how women attract people, draw attention, receive admirers, listen to problems, nurture, support; the different tastes of men and women, such as reality television, shows involving indirect competition for votes, sports with subjective scoring systems.In the background is the uneasy feeling that I shouldn't think these things; I should not be looking for stereotypes. They limit people's potential, discourage individuality;and yet I feel a resentment because I like looking for patterns in behaviour and everything else. My thoughts turn towards politically correct speech, designed to limit politically incorrect thinking, but designed by who[ I like who here even though I suspect that whom is grammatically correct. It is certainly what you would say in speech, ignoring the affectation that we speak the same as we write]? Well that is interesting. Designed by whom? Just trying out the sound of that.

Who are these people who try to remove prejudice by the use of language, who change not only behaviour but the underlying thought processes, who avoid direct confrontation while intuitively embracing the new inclusiveness, who fight racism, sexism and disempowerment even in casual conversation?

I can't say.

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