Autopsies, Gendered Language, Proposition 8 Update
May 26, 2009 by ithinkthereforeib
This is an intriguing article – a bit morbid, but worth reading (particularly for those of you interested in medicine):
Language and Gender Stereotypes: Two Slate writers discuss Obama’s use of a “gendered code word” in his search for a Supreme Court nominee (Note: he just nominated Sonia Sotomayor). Such words, they argue, “will only hurt women in the long run”.
Another update from today: California Supreme Court Upholds Same-Sex Marriage Ban
This ruling raises a number of interesting issues – given that same-sex marriage is now definitely banned in California but that the couples who married during the time period when it was allowed last year will legally stay married. This double-ruling obviously creates some sort of ‘no man’s land’ for 18,000 gay people – they have certain rights that other gay people do not. I have no doubt that this situation will eventually change, but for the moment it is (intriguingly?) paradoxical. That said, some of the arguments posited by NYT reader commenters are debatable and sometimes fallacious. One reader (No. 4) states that “[i]t’s incomprehensible to me how a simple majority of voters can change the constitution. This should require a two-thirds majority of the votes, together with minimum-turnout requirement.” If we take this line of reasoning, I would imagine many civil-right victories would take many years more to happen. Indeed, aren’t such victories often decided by a handful of votes/voices of lonesome pioneers and only over time establishing themselves as the majority position? Isn’t this exactly what democracy is about (and not about it giving you always what you want?)? I am not saying the democratic process is perfect, but this is how it is supposed to work.
Do peruse the article and comments, and comment yourself!
An interesting tidbit: Obama (first African-American US president) was elected on the day that Proposition 8 was confirmed (banning gay marriage). Obama announced his Supreme Court Nominee (only the third woman on the US Supreme Court and the first Hispanic) today, same day as Proposition 8 was reconfirmed (upholding the ban). It’s a contrast of more diversity versus less diversity. What does this mean? I have no idea – perhaps that humans are a complicated species? Again, do ponder.
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I just wrote a veryyyyyyyy lond paragraph commenting on the article of language and gender and it was erased. I’ll try to summarize what I wrote. The article definitely changed the perspective I had on the nomination, as I thought it to be a very brave pick. First of all, I do not think that Obama chose Sonia Sotomayior exclusively because of the need for more empathy in the court. I wouldn’t believe that he would nominate someone for such an important position based on empathetic qualities. However, I do not think it is accurate to make associations between women and empathy since not necessarily is a woman more empathetic than a man. I do think that woman are USUALLY more empathetic than men due to the identity they have created through the historical context in which they have developed. I agree with the author’s statment on the idea that it is OK to nominate women becuase they can bring variety of experience and perspective to the court- but not necessarily empathy or kindness. Even if I do not believe Obama nominated Sotomayor only to add more empathy and kindness to the court, he did make an association between women and empathy. I believe one must be careful with how one associates some words to women and their possible implications in certain situations, as in this one.
Wow, the autopsies article is so interesting! I had no idea this sort of thing was going on! Amazing =)
Glori: I don’t think any lesser of Sotomayor’s nomination because of the article, but I do think it raises an interesting question. At least one for me-the-critically-questioning-everything-thinker.
Constanza: Isn’t it? What really amazes me is that autopsies used to be the norm, but somehow nearly disappeared in the middle of the 20th century, only be emerging again now. I love when I get confronted with things I never thought about – and I definitely considered the war dead from this perspective.