A Diatribe Against Our Language’s Incessant Use of Words Involving Semen

14 Feb

by Anonymous 

‘Ah, yes! In fact, it was her seminal work regarding [something phenomenal]!’.

…Seminal? Really? It was her seminal work?

sem-i-nal.

1. of, relating to, or consisting of seed of semen.

2. containing or contributing the seeds of later development.

I don’t get it. of all the words in the English language, this is the one we pick to describe noteworthy things? I want to start saying ‘ovarian’.

‘In fact, that is his ovarian work regarding [something phenomenal]!’.

That sounds splendid.

Furthermore, why are we only allowed to ‘disseminate’ knowledge? Is knowledge only owned by boys? Is jacking-off your brain the best metaphor we could come up with for sharing information?

Well, color me disgusted and call me a feminist.

We ovulate knowledge. We don’t disseminate it.

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4 Responses to “A Diatribe Against Our Language’s Incessant Use of Words Involving Semen”

  1. Guy Jones February 14, 2013 at 3:12 am #

    I hate to say it, but this is the kind of thing that makes a lot of people roll their eyes at a movement that calls itself feminism. As a previous post here pointed out, many people would find this to trivialize the actual problems women face in places like the DRC: two words that are related to seeds (and by extension semen) must clearly indicate that English-speaking cultures hold inherently discriminatory views against women and thus possess a draconian patriarchy that an activist movement must fight against. There are some good issues brought up on this blog, and then there’s stuff like this.

    Reply
  2. Annie February 14, 2013 at 6:50 am #

    I totally agree with Guy.

    I am a self-proclaimed feminist, and that is a major part of who I am. But there is a lot out there that women have yet to achieve, and I really want to tell this author to PICK YOUR BATTLES. But at the same time, language matters. Langauge shapes our world and our perceptions. So no, I don’t think the words disseminate or seminal have caused gendered oppression, but the way we talk about sex and gender does matter- just check this out

    Gender Isn’t Binary, and We Shouldn’t Act Like It Is

    Reply
  3. Quinn February 14, 2013 at 8:51 pm #

    This is awesome! It’s like something out of a “Women and Women First” scene from Portlandia.

    Reply
  4. Bob Blake August 7, 2013 at 6:43 am #

    Thank you for this post! I enjoyed it a lot. Anyway, I found a related website that you might be interested in. It’s about what words can reveal about you. Check it out: http://humangram.com/5-shocking-truths-about-what-your-words-can-reveal

    Reply

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