Far too much
On the one hand:
Comedian. The word is comedian. https://t.co/ttKHll121m
— Ophelia Benson (@OpheliaBenson) November 10, 2017
On the other hand:
I mean, I understand your distaste for "comedienne" where "comedian" would be equally accurate, though I think you attribute far too much significance to it. But where you actually need a word that means "female comedian", it seems silly and narrow to object to its use.
— Charles Peyton (@Friedmanzone) November 10, 2017
I attach “far too much significance” to it. One tweet, five words long – that’s “far too much significance.”
Mansplainers; honestly.
And why would you need that word? You don’t need to hyphenate males – you don’t hear anyone use “male comedian” (unless said comedian happens to be a person of color, but even then, you don’ t get the male epithet in front of it; even with people of color, men are assumed to be the default, so you’ll have a “black woman comedian” or a “black comedian”).
I am NOT a woman scientist; I am a scientist, because I do the same science that a male scientist in my field would do. I am NOT a woman playwright; I am a playwright, because I write plays. Some of them are about women, but that’s true of men, too. Some of them write about women, and when they write about men, it isn’t assumed to be something to be commented on, it’s just writing. Because it’s about men.
We aren’t allowed to talk about “pregnant women” or “women’s health”, because that is ‘hostile’ to trans-women. But when we are doing things that “women” aren’t “supposed” to do, we become woman hyphen whatever.
The originating tweet in this case “needed” it because it was saying X was the first black woman comedian to do whatever it was (host SNL maybe?). Not the first black comedian but the first black comedian who is a woman.
Yes, it was hosting SNL. The phrasing slightly irked me, too, but I still think it’s worth noting that it took Lorne Michaels forty-three years to find a black woman he thought was funny enough to make him money.
Mostly unrelated, but Louis CK has issued a statement that amounts to an apology. It’s not perfect, but it is a hell of a lot better than we got from Cosby or Weinstein.
No, no. Mansplaining doesn’t just mean, “a man giving reasons for something”.
It describes the phenomenon of men assuming women to be clueless, because of their male sexist attitudes, and condescedingly explaining something the men should have reasonably expected to be as well known, or better known, to the women, than to themselves. It’s not just any man explaining any old thing to a woman. Got it?
I feel, as a man, I should explain this to you as you clearly don’t understand. (Not that it’s your fault, I expect it’s hormonal.)
“We aren’t allowed to talk about “pregnant women” or “women’s health”, because that is ‘hostile’ to trans-women.”
I thought it was “hostile” to transmen. Because they are men who (for instance) can get pregnant. So pregnancy doesn’t only “belong to” women.
Ben, you’re right. I need to proof my rants closer!
Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure it’s hostile to transwomen, too, somehow.
Yes, because it implies that being a «woman» does indeed have something to do with biology, therefore thoughtcrime.