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Article: Female objects of semantic dehumanization and violence.
- Article from:
- Studies in Prolife Feminism
- Article date:
- June 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Feminism and Nonviolence Studies Association, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ABSTRACT
Now and throughout history, pejorative language has played a major role in the longstanding victimization of women. This study employs a comprehensive classification of degrading categories--deficient human, subhuman, animal, parasite, disease, inanimate object, and waste product--as a framework for analyzing the demeaning words invoked to justify man's inhumanity to women. It concludes with observations about how this pernicious anti-female lexicon of derogation is part and parcel of a pervasive seamless shroud of anti-life rhetoric called upon to rationalize violence against other victims (born and unborn) in contemporary society and in times past.
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