So...it's OUR fault?

You have got to be kidding me.

Reuters seems happy to report Patrick Moore's opinions on TV today: "The trouble is that the BBC now is run by women and it shows: soap operas, cooking, quizzes, kitchen-sink plays. You wouldn't have had that in the golden days." He adds that "I used to watch Doctor Who and Star Trek, but they went PC -- making women commanders, that kind of thing. I stopped watching."

I've got to admit that I don't know who he is. But, to be honest, I don't think I want to. Who comes out with stuff like that these days?! I agree that there is a fair amount of rubbish around on TV, but I hardly believe that that is the fault of women. And there are more educational and intelligent programmes around, because of the increase in sheer number of channels and all that. I say we start a revolution in better TV by getting rid of him and his incredibly sexist views.

Pfffft.

Headlines

Arts students 'less keen on work': Thanks for that. Apparently we're less "pro-active". I grant you that at the moment I don't know what exactly I want to do after uni. But what is supposed to be surprising about "The UK Graduate Careers Survey [...] found a much more confident, work-focused, approach from students on work-related courses." Apart from the argument that all degrees are 'work-related', people on supposedly more work-related courses are blatantly going to be more work-focused. I mean, one of my friends studies Optometry. Except for the private vs. NHS decision, her focus is pretty much sorted - she's gonna be an optician. That's the reason why you study the course. And yes of course arts students expect to end up in low-paid jobs. We spend 3 years drinking cofee and reading news headlines about how unmotivated we are. What were you expecting?

Germans stay home for eco-holiday: Not much to say - good on the Germans, sounds cool that many people there are becoming more aware of the environment and the impact of holidays. What made me laugh about the article was this description... "Giggling by the sea - and lying topless in the sun - are Martina and her three environmentally friendly colleague [...] "I think it's better for the climate to stay here in Germany," Martina told me, once she'd put her bikini back on." Did you even need to ask whether the writer of that article was a man or a woman? Thought not.

Nurse sexually assaulted at work: Obviously nothing fun about the assault - bit horribly, really. I only wanted to question the news that detectives are looking simply for a "white man with a London accent." That, er, won't be difficult then.

Of course, one could consider the linguistic side of the article, in that the headline uses the unmarked term 'nurse' to refer to a woman, knowing full well that you will assume the nurse/woman link without thinking. But perhaps that's a consideration I should keep confined to my language seminars! Sadly I can no longer read the news and stuff without thinking of the theories from my course. D'oh.

Well, I better be off to do some work. Wouldn't want to not be hard-working and confident now, would I?

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Listening to: Hot Fuss - The Killers
Drinking: The special selection Cafédirect coffee. Bliss.
Reading: An email from my dad, aww.

Language and letters

Ha, when i saw this 'Happy Monday' meme, I just knew that I had to do it. The idea is that every Monday a theme is posted, and bloggers have to post something funny on tht theme - a picture, video, story or whatever. Today's theme is letters.

Here is mine:


This occurred last summer when my boyfriend and I were unexpectedly invited out to dinner with his parents, so he left a note to David (my brother) to explain that we'd left, as David had just gone out. No idea why he thought this was informative, but there you go. We arrived home later on to discover David's contribution. The exchange amused me so much that I kept the bit of paper.

Yes, I am probably more easily amused then the average blog reader/writer, but there you go.

Anyway, my random thought of the day is that I read a lot of stuff on language and gender today, and the book got me wondering. It paraphrases many of the ideas of a woman called Robin Lakoff - who started off the language and gender debate years and years ago - which include assumptions like 'women use many more tentative linguistic forms than men' and 'men swear more' and 'women force conversations more, and use linguistic forms that force a response in the other speaker'. The book I'm reading focuses on research that's been conducted since Lakoff's claims, which were merely based on her 'intuitions' as a native English speaker. The conclusion is basically that she was talking rubbish, because the evidence often contradicts her. But the evidence also contradicts itself a lot, too. So really...we just don't know what patterns there are in male and female use of language.

What got me though is that I'd agree with a lot of Lakoff's assumptions. Certainly, they're probably not all true, and definitely not for all women. But I reckon that there is still the idea hanging around that women don't, and shouldn't, swear too much. And they get a certain label if they do. And they shouldn't be too forceful in their opinion, and should use plenty of qualifiers to show that they're not praising themselves too much, or making other people out in a bad light.

The question is why is this? I'm not so sure that it's purely because of our apparently patriarchal society. Partly I think it's probably just differences that have evolved, and there's nothing too wrong in that. But you know what? All that business with women qualifying what they're saying is pretty much because of what women do to women. You use qualifiers in your language if you're a woman because you'll be frowned upon for having a decent level of self-esteem, and you also do it because you'll be called a bitch if you attribute negative qualities to another woman.

Sometimes I think it's great being a woman. Sometimes I think we all got a bit confused along the way.

I tend to think I'm pretty cool and I'm not having anyone tell me I should act otherwise. Smug, much? :)

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Listening to: The Life You Always Wanted - The Bittersweets
Thinking: I need to take my contact lenses out...my eyes hurt
Funniest moment today: My flatmate and I sprawled out on chairs in our kitchen, making conversation across the room at the eye level of the table