Category Archives: Sociolinguistics

Playboy’s Misogyny More Overt Than Ever

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Playboy.com began hosting a feature on the website listing and mocking conservative women they’d like to”hate-fuck.” And at least one supposedly liberal blog (ETA: or not, some controversy on this point) picked up on it as a “lighter side of … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

What color is your cancer?

Posted on May 17, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Odd question? Yes.

Share
Posted in Sociolinguistics, Women's Health, Yep, sarcasm. | Comments Off

How many women authors are in your syllabi?

Posted on May 17, 2009 by Ann Bartow

After observing that: … a quick tally of the authors represented on my syllabi (10 courses so far) reveals that 12% of the articles or books I was required to read were written by women. Now in my third quarter … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminism and Law, Sociolinguistics, The Underrepresentation of Women | Comments Off

For the Hillary Rodham Clinton Fans…

Posted on May 17, 2009 by Ann Bartow

In case you missed this.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Politics, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

The science of sales, 1950s style.

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Ann Bartow
Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, If you're a woman, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

“… it’s okay to opt out of toxic situations and conversations. Opting out doesn’t mean that you’re weak, nor does it make you a bad person. Sometimes, the most advantageous position is, in fact, one in which you don’t resist, in which you don’t explain, in which you don’t try to justify your position, in which you don’t bother trying to help others see your point of view. Or, conversely, in which you don’t try to be inclusive, to give antagonists a forum, or to apologize to diffuse a situation.”

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Ann Bartow

More Lessons for Girls here at Historiann.

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminism and Culture, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

“Is It Wrong To Pay For Sex?”

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From NPR. Those debating were: FOR THE MOTION Melissa Farley is a clinical and research psychologist with San Francisco-based nonprofit Prostitution Research & Education and an associate scholar with the Center for World Indigenous Studies. She wrote Prostitution and Trafficking … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, Justice?, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

The Dos and Don’ts of using women announcers in 1950s television advertising

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Via.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Damn, the Supreme Court has ruled that the FCC’s fleeting expletive rule is “okay” but withheld judgment on whether it is constitutional.

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Ann Bartow

There has been a ruling in FCC v. Fox Television Stations. From the NYT: The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Tuesday in favor of a government policy that threatens broadcasters with fines over the use of even a single curse word … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

“Vajayjay Meets Registered Trademark”

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Ann Bartow

MoJo reports: … Firmly in pop culture verbiage, the vaginal euphemism has now seen its first official product (though not its first trademark application, apparently) as the Vaj-j Visor. The visor, which is meant to cover the goods during waxing, … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Best Sarah Haskins Video Yet

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Ann Bartow
Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

“Pornocalypse Now”

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Over at Adbusters, Douglas Haddow talks about masculinity and porn. Via.

Share
Posted in Coerced Sex, Feminism and Culture, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Schick Outdoes Itself

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Now public hair is racialized as well as pornified. (For a prior ad, see this post by Bridget): –Ann Bartow

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Race and Racism, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Racial Stereotyping For Jeebus

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Ann Bartow

This is so over the top in terms of the way it portrays race, you’d think (and desperately hope) it was satire, but it probably wasn’t intended to be. Instead, chances are the creators thought they were being open minded … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Race and Racism, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

Client’s use of eff word gets lawyer sanctioned.

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Ann Bartow

From here: A federal judge has levied sanctions of more than $29,000 on a lawyer and his client after finding that a deposition was a “spectacular failure” because of the client’s constant use of vulgar language and insults and dodging … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Legal Profession, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Justice O’Connor on Women’s Rights

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Justice O’Connor participated in an interview with the New York Times to promote her new website for children.   Though she declines to call herself a feminist, take note of what she does say: Do you call yourself a feminist? … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Firsts, Sociolinguistics, The Underrepresentation of Women | Comments Off

“I Was Followed, Harassed, And Ambushed By Bill O’Reilly’s Producer”

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Read Amanda Terkel’s story here.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

“Feminism 101: On Language and the Commodification of Sex Via Humor”

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Melissa lays it out here, noting: [O]ne of the most common themes among the emails I get is gratitude for expressing frustration or contempt or anger at something of which, women have been told in explicit or implicit ways, our … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminist Blogs Of Interest, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Criminal Charges for an Accused Cyberbully

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Raphael Golb has been charged with one felony count of second-degree identity theft, plus four misdemeanor charges related to his online sock-puppeting and bullying activities. The Chron reports: The son of a prominent Dead Sea Scrolls scholar was arrested on … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminism and Technology, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Boy Toys …

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Ann Bartow

And girl toys? Ian Ayres has a question for you Happy Meal purchasers over at Balkinization.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Girls Can’t WHAT?

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Share Your Story Here! As women, we’ve all been there at some point in our lives….a job…a sport…some activity where we were told we can’t participate simply because we were female. Answer the question …   and tell us what … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminist Blogs Of Interest, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Brittan Heller and Heide Iravani are awesome.

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Brittan and Heide are two women, heavily victimized by AutoAdmit, who have been willing to stand and fight. An article about the AutoAdmit litigation called “Slimed Online” can be found here at Portfolio.com. Here is an excerpt: Autoadmit, like innumerable … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | 3 Comments

1959 TV Commercial Launching Barbie

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Ann Bartow
Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

John Min Kang, “Manliness and the Constitution”

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Abstract: Much of the legal scholarship regarding gender focuses justifiably on discrimination against women; accordingly, if such scholarship does discuss men, it does so chiefly to illuminate the ways in which women have been oppressed by them. My article seeks … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Best Post Featuring Presidential Cussing Ever

Posted on February 7, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Here. The first comment is pretty good too.

Share
Posted in Bloggenpheffer, Feminism and Politics, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

Mindbugs: The Psychology of Ordinary Prejudice February 13, 2009 – Boston, MA (ABA Midyear Meeting)

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Mindbugs: The Psychology of Ordinary Prejudice Speaker: Professor Mahzarin Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Department of Psychology, Harvard University Prejudiced? Of course, we all are. Though we may believe that our own views are not affected by … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Legal Profession, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

South Carolina State Senator Robert Ford is trying to outlaw lewd language and profanity.

Posted on January 29, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Story here. It notes: We spoke to Debra Gammons with the Charleston School of Law about freedom of speech. She reminds that the First Amendment is not absolute. You cannot say whatever you want whenever you want to. Courts will … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Sociolinguistics, South Carolina | 5 Comments

What if you plan on e-mailing your professor?

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Professor What If has some advice and observations here. Below is an excerpt: Every time a semester is about to start or has just started, my email box is inundated with”URGENT”pleas from students. Many of the things they are writing … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Law Teaching, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

On the reclamation of sexist slurs.

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Ann Bartow

Lauredhel has an extensive post here about language reclamation issues at Hoyden About Town. Below is a short excerpt, but you should read the whole thing! … As with just about any topic in feminism, when stripped to the bone, … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Stick To Your Knitting, Mr. Bass

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Bridget Crawford

Yahoo has named Carol Bartz (above) as its new chief executive.  Ms. Bartz formerly was an executive at the technology company Autodesk.  This (understandably) made the first page of the Business Day section of today’s New York Times (here). In … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Teenaged Girls and Dating Related Violence

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Ann Bartow

An article in the NYT entitled “Killings Prompt Efforts to Spot and Reduce Abuse of Teenagers in Dating” [Note on January 4th: That WAS the title when I blogged this yesterday, but this morning the title has been changed to … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Law, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Mocking Sexism or Mocking Feminism?

Posted on December 30, 2008 by Ann Bartow

The text in both ads (for Eram, a French shoe company) says (more or less):”No women’s bodies were exploited in this ad.” Via Sociological Images. ETA: Thoughtful response here.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

The New York Times Disapproves of Getting Laid

Posted on November 25, 2008 by Ann Bartow

There is a two part series on this topic over at the Language Log.   The first is titled: No getting laid in the NYT and compares this passage from the NYT: “We created the prepaid RushCard,”Simmons says in [an … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Fight Songs Of Southern Universities

Posted on November 23, 2008 by Ann Bartow

So today I was ruminating on the University of South Carolina’s fight song, called “Step to the Rear,” a fight song in which the only lyrics are “Go Cocks!” Here’s a version played at a football game by The Mighty … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Academia, Sociolinguistics, South Carolina | Comments Off

Overused Words and Phrases

Posted on November 13, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Lake Superior State University has an annual list overused words. For 2007 they were: Perfect storm Webinar Waterboarding Organic Wordsmith/wordsmithing* Post 9/11 Give back Author/authored ‘Blank’ is the new ‘Blank’ or ‘X’ is the new ‘Y’ Surge Black Friday Back … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Bloggenpheffer, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

AutoAdmit Lawsuit Update

Posted on November 8, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Here, from Leiter.

Share
Posted in Academia, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Wikipedia and Feminism

Posted on October 22, 2008 by Ann Bartow

As of this past September, Wikipedia has been cited by U.S. courts almost 300 times,   according to Lee Peoples’ new article, The Citation of Wikipedia in American Judicial Opinions. It’s frightening to think that judges are according wikipedia so … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Guest Post by Nick J. Sciullo: On Womyn and Humyn With A”Y”

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Ann Bartow

This story is a story of the law review process and one scholar’s attempt to do something, anything, about the patriarchal underpinnings of law schools, law, and legal thoughts. My ideas on feminism have not always been well tolerated and … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Academia, Feminist Legal Scholarship, Guest Blogger, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

“That Nucular Thing”

Posted on October 5, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Or, why picking on Sarah Palin’s speech patterns is wrong.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Politics, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Who is the good Democrat? Him? Or me?

Posted on September 19, 2008 by Ann Bartow

In a column entitled “Sarah Palin Naked” Michael Seitzman writes: I realized three things tonight. For one, if you are a McCain/Palin/Bush voter, you and I do not have a difference of opinion. We have a difference in brain power. … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Politics, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Lipstick on a Pig

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Time recently published ‘A Brief History Of: ‘Putting Lipstick on a Pig” noting that many politicians have used it publicly, including Barack Obama, John McCain, Dick Cheney, and both John and Elizabeth Edwards. The Urban Dictionary’s definition of “lipstick on … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Politics, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

On Palin: Traps for the Unweary

Posted on September 5, 2008 by Kathleen Bergin

I’ve got a couple posts over at The Faculty Lounge explaining why I don’t support Sarah Palin.   (coupled with the video Ann’s got below!!)   Here’s one: Thoughts on Palin: Religious Politics and Book Bans Religious beliefs apparently played … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Feminism and Politics, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Testation, Testicles and Ritual Practice

Posted on August 26, 2008 by Bridget Crawford

Today in Wills, Trusts & Estates class, we discussed the difference between dying testate (with a will) and intestate (without one).  We talked about the origins of the word testation, which the OED gives as “from  testrto witness, make a … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Law, Sociolinguistics, Women and Economics | Comments Off

“Straight in a Gay World”

Posted on July 27, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Essay by a straight man who worked at a gay organization about what he learned from the experience.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Politics, LGBT Rights, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Nervous Nellie Was Not a Woman

Posted on July 21, 2008 by Bridget Crawford

Today I found myself using the descriptor “Nervous Nellie” in an attempt to self-deprecate when reminding a colleague to do something (as in, “I’m probably being a Nervous Nellie, but I just wanted to check whether you had done …”). … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

From The Department of: “Anonymous” Was Usually A Woman

Posted on July 12, 2008 by Ann Bartow

This NYT article reports controversy over the authorship of the Serenity Prayer. Below is an excerpt: … For more than 70 years, the composer of the prayer was thought to be the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, one of modern Christianity’s … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sociolinguistics, The Underrepresentation of Women | Comments Off

Public Works officials in Atlanta are replacing “Men Working” signs with signs that say “Workers Ahead.”

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Story here. Props to Cynthia Good for making this happen.

Share
Posted in Sociolinguistics, The Underrepresentation of Women | Comments Off

California group proposes George W. Bush Sewage Plant

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Ann Bartow

I’ve generally been critical of naming public facilities after living politicians, but this is one I can endorse: A California group submitted a proposal Monday to rename a sewage treatment plant after President Bush, calling the initiative a fitting tribute … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Bloggenpheffer, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

On Backlash

Posted on July 1, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Katha Pollitt says backlash against feminism is “crackling up a storm”. Kira Cochrane says the same thing is happening in the UK. And Dodai at Jezebel writes: Here’s a fun exercise: Think of 5 celebrities you love, and 5 celebs … Continue reading →

Share
Posted in Feminism and Culture, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off

Men Hate Us, Another Reminder

Posted on June 19, 2008 by Ann Bartow

Interview with Jessica Valenti of Feministing here at Moblogic, is followed by large numbers of mostly horrible comments.

Share
Posted in Feminism and Technology, Sociolinguistics | Comments Off