Who are the men that you admire...
Think for a minute. Just think with me.
Who are the men that you admire?
Think.
Think.
Seriously come up with some names.
Did you think of any women?
Probably not because because I said, "men."
Except that people who argue for gender exclusive language say that men is an inclusive word. Except that you probably didn't think of it in that way.
It is inherently exclusive in 99.9% of language.
That's why it is so important for my daughter to be surrounded by various gendered language for God and gender exclusive language.
Along with that, we've got our fair share of Christmas books making their way into Junia's evening reading. As with many things Christmas they are amazingly good reminding my daughter that as a girl/woman her only part in the Christmas story is her reproductive capacity and her mildness.
I beg to differ, believing that God is bigger than this, and so am choosing to (hopefully) little by little push her imagination larger.
So a couple of modifications from just one book:
To: "people" and beasts"
From: "His" mother.
to: "the" mother.
From: "His Son"
To: "The incarnate one"
From: "Shepherds"
To: "Shepherdesses" (not sure if I like that one as it is just adding 'esses' which drives me nuts)
From: "Wise men"
To: "The Wise"
we haven't taken the sharpie to it but we almost always say "newborn king" to "newborn kin"
From "Mother Mild"
to "mother wild"- but really we almost always read it as "parents wild"
Have you taken any sharpies to your books?
Excellent post Rachel. I applaude your use of the Sharpie.
ReplyDeleteSuch skillful modifications! We do our fair share of "He" interchanged with "She," but yours are much more thoughtful.
ReplyDeleteYour post seems very relevant to our Christmas shopping today.... Foster is getting a kitchen and a baby doll with a stroller. It wasn't until we were done shopping for him (the kitchen was a used one from the consignment shop because he loves the one in the church nursery and the doll is because he is so obsessed with "babies" and loved the one at Buddy's at Thanksgiving) at how we had bought him such traditional "girl" gifts for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteNice changes :) Sometimes the use of inclusive language feels heavy-handed (and that's probably because it takes a heavy hand to lift so many generations of exclusivity) but what you've done here makes sense and feels natural. High five.
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