triskellian: (feminist)
triskellian ([personal profile] triskellian) wrote in [personal profile] taimatsu 2007-10-08 12:24 pm (UTC)

Umm. I don't think I do believe in being prescriptive about language use. I try to be aware of the language choices I make for myself, and there are words/constructions/meanings that I wish people wouldn't use and which I sometimes challenge when I hear them (some of which I might go so far as to suggest that organisations remove from their official discourse), but that's a far cry from being prescriptive.

But if I did believe that, it wouldn't be part of what I meant by feminism, it would be something I did in pursuit of the goals of feminism. It's different.

For example, something I actually do believe is that all maternity/paternity/parental leave and pay should be bundled up into one big pot that any given parents can divide between themselves as they see fit. I believe this because I'm a feminist and I believe such a situation would further the aims of gender equality, but I don't believe that this is part of what feminism means, and I don't require everyone to agree with me on it before I'll agree that they're a feminist.

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