They Say / I Blog

Disrupting the gender binary: Barbara J. King on gender fluidity and queer rights

In this August 2020 essay, Barbara J. King, a biological anthropologist and professor emerita at the College of William and Mary, shares the story of her child Sarah, who is nonbinary and agender. King pulls from her perspective as both a biological anthropologist and a mother to explore the cultural and linguistic resistance to nonbinary gender identity and presentation.

Barbara J. King, "My Nonbinary Child," Sapiens, 21 August 2020

 

Power couples: Cardiff Garcia and Stacey Vanek Smith on marriage and income inequality

Another way the rich keep getting richer? Marriage. This NPR podcast from February 24, 2020 explains the phenomenon of “assortative mating,” which occurs when people of similar education levels and socioeconomic status marry each other. Hosts Cardiff Garcia and Stacey Vanek Smith interview economist Branko Milanovic, who argues that this trend furthers income inequality in the U.S.

Listen to the podcast first, and then respond to the questions. The questions include time stamps to help you navigate to particular parts of the podcast. You can also refer to the transcript that appears below the podcast on the website.

Cardiff Garcia and Stacey Vanek Smith, "For Rich or Richer," The Indicator, 24 February 2020

 

Bearing the burden: Helen Lewis on how pandemics affect women

Who’s watching the kids? For many families, the answer falls along predictable gender lines, as women attempt to balance their jobs with unpaid caregiving. In her March 19, 2020 essay in The Atlantic, Helen Lewis contends that this gender divide matters, especially in pandemics. Lewis looks at the current crisis as well as past pandemics worldwide to demonstrate the risks of taking “a gender-neutral approach to pandemics.”

Helen Lewis, "The Coronavirus Is a Disaster for Feminism,” The Atlantic, 19 March 2020

 

On the ballot: Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Meredith Conroy on representation in elected office

Quick! Which state leads the country in electing women of color to executive office? The answer? New Mexico. It’s not a “fluke,” Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Meredith Conroy contend in their FiveThirtyEight essay published on January 31, 2020. Rather, they argue, the work that has been done in New Mexico to put women in office can be used as a blueprint in other states to make our government reflect the diversity of the people it represents.

Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Meredith Conroy, "Why New Mexico Elects More Women of Color Than the Rest of the Country," FiveThirtyEight, 31 January 2020

 

A man’s place: A conversation about masculinity in the #MeToo era

Too often, the most pressing debates about gender (i.e. sexual assault, equal pay) are simplified to women’s-only issues. That’s a problem. In this November 12, 2019 YES! piece, nine people discuss our collective responsibility in these conversations and debate how men should participate in the #MeToo movement.

Alex Meyers, Earth-Feather Sovereign, Imara Jones, Kalimah Johnson, Kendrick Sampson, Maru Mora Villalpando, Sady Doyle, Tarana Burke, and Tony Porter, "Can We Build a Better Man?" YES!, 12 November 2019

 

Time for "they": Benjamin Dreyer on the word of the year

Merriam-Webster chose “they” as its 2019 word of the year, a testament to the political and personal importance of pronouns. Benjamin Dreyer, vice president of Random House and self-described “word person by trade,” explains why this choice matters for everyone in his Washington Post op-ed, published on December 16, 2019.

Benjamin Dreyer, "Language Is Here to Serve All of Us. Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year Shows That." The Washington Post, 16 December 2019

 

In a word: Debbie Cameron on the role (and the power) of dictionaries

It might be fair to say that dictionaries generally operate in a kind of stealth mode—we probably don’t think about them too often, they’re seldom added to anyone’s wish list, and if there’s a big one in your house, it’s likely used more often as a booster seat for toddlers at the dinner table than as a reference work. Still, we often trust the dictionary to be the High Authority for settling bets or arguments, and even, sometimes, for helping with schoolwork. We trust the dictionary, and we rely on it, and we seldom question its judgment. But maybe we should. Linguist Debbie Cameron examines the problematic nature of the role of dictionaries in this July 2019 post on her blog, Language: A feminist guide.

Cameron, “Dissing the dictionary”

“Tighter worlds”: Gelfand and Choi on disparate gender treatment in the workplace

The wage gap isn’t the only way that women and people of color face discrimination in the workplace. Research demonstrates that the punishments they receive for infractions are more severe than the consequences for similar misdeeds committed by white men. Michele Gelfand, professor of cultural psychology, and Virginia Choi, doctoral student in social psychology, outline some relevant findings in this April 2019 Time essay.

Gelfand & Choi, “Women don’t just face a pay gap at work. They’re also punished far more than men”

Dear Sir or Madam: Ellen Barry on gender-specific forms of address

Dear Sir. Or Madam. Or, y’know, whatever. Does it matter?  For many people, it matters a lot. Ellen Barry, a London-based correspondent for the New York Times, filed this March 2019 report detailing a British newspaper’s controversy around the proper form of addressing letters to the editor. Lest you think that only the Brits would care about this issue, be sure to read the comments to Barry’s article, which come from readers in Finland, Germany, Australia, Mexico, France, Colombia, and the UK, as well as many US locations.

Barry,  “To sir, with wrath: A cautionary tale from Middle England”

 

To serve and satisfy: Lynn Stuart Parramore on sexist design of digital assistants

Siri. Alexa. It’s no coincidence that their voices carry easily identifiable traits of a young woman who is business-like yet eager to please. In this February 2019 essay from the NBC News blog Think, cultural historian Lynn Stuart Parramore argues that, as more and more companies introduce “she-bots” of their own,  “Big Tech is wiring the future with cultural signals that undermine the hard-won rights of women to be treated as human and paid as equals.” Read here what she thinks we should do about it.

Parramore, “Female digital assistants like Alexa and Siri remain popular in Silicon Valley. It’s time to boycott them."