From Auting to Ageism: A Dictionary of Topical Terms
Alexandra Savina
The dominance of Anglicisms in Russian is taken to be indignant, but a number of important concepts in the Russian language have neither analogs nor an established translation. We are talking about twenty problems and concepts existing in modern Russia, the designations of which have come to us from the English language.
Outing
(eng. outing)
Unlike the coming-out, when a person deliberately and voluntarily talks about his sexual orientation or gender identity, outing implies disclosing this information about another person without his consent. The American LGBT organization GLAAD warns that the outing can lead to serious consequences: the LGBT community can lose their jobs, housing, friends and relatives because of it, and the outing can threaten their life and health. Thus, the director of "The Matrix" Lilly Wachowski was recently forced to make a coming out and announce that she is a transgender woman, fearing that journalists will tell about her gender identity without her consent.
Bodypositive
(eng. body positive)
The essence of the body-positive movement fits into the capacious formula "my body is my business": representatives of the movement stand for freedom from the ever-changing standards of beauty, for accepting themselves and their appearance, against fatfobi, or fetcheshiming (condemnation of stout people) and skinny-shaming (condemnation of thin people).
At the same time, the representatives of the movement do not call for completely abandoning work on their own bodies - but only if this is a conscious and voluntary decision of a person, and to the extent that seems to him necessary and sufficient. As a result, the ideology of bodipositive does not support fitness fascism - a painful preoccupation with one’s own body and bringing oneself to exhaustion by endless training.
Gas jetting
(eng. gaslighting)
Gazliding is a form of psychological violence in which one of the partners tries to confuse the second, expresses doubts about its adequacy, distorts the information so that the victim of violence begins to doubt his memories, emotional stability and the objectivity of his perception. Abyuzer devalues the feelings, feelings and memories of the victim (“It wasn’t”, “You are inventing”, “You are simply reacting too much to everything”) and can also deny other episodes of violence.
The term originated from the play "Gas Light" ("Gas Light"), which was based on the same-name film by George Cukor, which describes a similar case of partner violence: the husband forces his wife to believe that she was out of her mind to hide her own crimes.
Gendercid
(English gendercide)
Gendertsid - the systematic killing of people on the basis of gender. The term was coined by the American woman Mary Ann Warren, the author of the book Gendercid: The Consequences of the Choice of Sex, published in 1985. Gendercid can take two forms: femicide (systematic killing of women) and androtsid (systematic killing of men).
The problem of femicide is often associated with family and sexual abuse. Often the victims of femicide are unborn girls: in China and India, where in ancient families they preferred to have sons, for every 120 boys born there are only 100 girls. Now, when couples, on average, have fewer children, and technology makes it possible to determine the sex of a child before birth, families often donate unborn daughters to have a son.
Colorism
(English colorism)
Colorism - discrimination against people with a darker skin tone, common in South Asia, Africa, China, the USA and Latin America. In the United States, colorism arose before the Civil War: slaves with a lighter skin tone (often they were children of slaves and slave owners) usually were given easier work.
Colorism is manifested in different forms: for example, actors and musicians with a darker skin tone are less represented in popular culture (and get less interesting roles), and women with a lighter skin tone, according to statistics, are more likely to get married. The magnitude of the problem is also indicated by the popularity of bleaching cosmetics in America, Asia and Africa.
Queer
(eng. queer)
Queer is a generic term for members of the LGBT community. At the end of the nineteenth century, the word "queer", meaning "strange," was used as a derogatory designation of homosexual relations. Later, some representatives of the LGBT community also began to use it in order to deprive it of its humiliating meaning. The GLAAD organization warns that the word "queer" is still not commonly used - it should be used only when the LGBT community identifies itself this way.
Lukizm
(English lookism)
The concept of "Lukizm" emerged in the 70s of the last century in the framework of the struggle for the rights of full people. This word means discrimination in appearance: it describes the subconscious trust and disposition towards people whose appearance conforms to the norms and standards adopted in society. People tend to positively evaluate the actions of people who are considered beautiful (the story of the “most beautiful criminal” Jeremy Mixes is another confirmation of this), and research data show that beautiful people get better jobs, higher salaries and more attractive spouses.
Menspleining
(eng. mansplaining)
The word menspleyning, recently included in Oxford Dictionaries, describes a condescending manner in which a man explains something to a woman who is allegedly unable to understand this information on her own, without male help. The word came up with a journalist and writer Rebecca Solneit, first used it in the book "Men Teach Me to Live."
The consequences of menspleiling should not be underestimated: they are used to not listening to female voices in politics, the press and popular culture; the words of victims of violence and rape, alas, are also often ignored.
Objectification
(sexy, eng. objectification)
The word "objectification" is increasingly used in Russian - but in its writing it is still often mistaken, by analogy with the English language, calling the phenomenon "object definition". Sexual objectification is the process of “objectifying” a woman, reducing the entire complexity of her personality to an object that reflects the interests of men, which submits to male will and is used to fulfill men's needs. The own desires and needs of women are not taken into account; That is why one of the most difficult consequences of objectification is the accusation of rape victims of what happened.
Positive discrimination
(also "positive discrimination", eng. positive discrimination)
Positive (positive) discrimination is a policy or measure aimed at providing benefits to members of groups who are victims of discrimination. It is believed that a system in which members of minorities receive certain privileges (advantages in obtaining education and employment, promotion and in many other ways) allows equalizing the chances of those who are discriminated against and those who are not. One of the undesirable consequences of such an approach is the infringement of the rights of the majority in favor of minorities, and the qualifications of members of minorities may not be taken into account.
In some countries, such as in the UK, a system of "positive action" has been introduced: in this case, the employer has the right to give preference to the representative of the discriminated group (for example, to hire a woman instead of a man), provided that both candidates have equal abilities.
Prolife
(eng. pro-life)
Representatives of the proliferation movement oppose abortion, and often contraception. Active struggle for the reproductive rights of women has been going on for more than a decade, but the attitude of society towards abortion continues to be ambiguous. In some countries, for example, in Ireland, abortions are still prohibited, in some countries they are allowed only for medical reasons, that is, if pregnancy threatens the mother’s health, and representatives of religious denominations continue to condemn contraception and abortion (some exceptions that the Pope makes the overall situation is not affected). Russian lawmakers often also adhere to the prolifera position and advocate for limiting the possibility of abortion - but, fortunately, so far none of these initiatives have been adopted.
Sex positive
(eng. sex positive)
The sex-positive movement recognizes sexuality as an important part of a person’s personality and maintains a healthy attitude towards sex. Its representatives advocate safe and consensual sex ("consensual sex": a setting in which sex is possible only when both partners agree), respect for their sexual desires and desires of the partner, as well as against slatsiminga. In addition, representatives of the movement talk about the need for sex education.
The idea that sex is an important part of human life was born in the 20s of the last century thanks to Freud's disciple, psychologist Wilhelm Reich. It was picked up and developed during the years of the sexual revolution, and now it is perceived as completely natural: even those who do not consider themselves to be feminists belong to the sex-positive movement.
"Sex work"
(English sex work)
Sex workers are called adults who receive money for sex services. The UN notes that only those who do it voluntarily should be called sex workers to avoid confusing sex work with sex trafficking and human trafficking.
Sex workers are divided into "formal" (that is, those who identify themselves and earn their living by providing sex services) and "unofficial" (for them, the provision of sex services is not the main source of income, they are usually not identify themselves as sex workers, and their main activity may be, for example, working as a waitress, hairdresser or masseuse). In a number of countries (Germany, the Netherlands) sex work is legalized and regulated by labor laws.
Slatshteming
(English slut-shaming)
Slatshteming - the desire to condemn a woman for the "frivolous" and depraved appearance and behavior. Slatsteaming takes many forms: from the condemnation of appearance, actions and the number of sexual partners of a person to the humiliation of a woman because of her candid shots and the accusation of a rape victim. Slatsteaming is one of the manifestations of sexism and double standards, because only women and girls are condemned for “depraved” behavior: in a patriarchal society, the value of a woman is determined primarily by her external attractiveness and sexuality, but her free sexual behavior is most often condemned.
Stalking
(English stalking)
Stalking is one of the forms of violence, which consists in obsessive persecution of the victim, persistently following her. Most often, stalkers are former romantic partners who think that this way they can save a broken relationship or marriage. The problem of stalking is often not taken seriously, considering that intrusive attention is rather a compliment. Such an attitude to stalking is generously fed by popular culture: in romantic comedies, harassment is often shown in a positive way, the idea is being imposed that the relationship must be fought to the end, without taking into account the feelings of the partner.
In many countries, stalking is considered an offense and punished for it; in Russia there is no legal basis for this yet.
"Glass ceiling"
(eng. glass ceiling)
"Glass ceiling" is a term that denotes an invisible barrier that hinders the career growth of women. At the same time, real achievements and professionalism of women in such situations do not play any role: often, leadership positions that men easily occupy remain unattainable for women due to gender stereotypes. The road to equality promises to be long: according to the World Economic Forum, at the current pace of world development, men and women will receive equal wages for doing the same work only by 2133.
Harassment
(eng. harassment)
Harassment is sexual harassment and harassment. Harassment includes intimidating the victim or forcing her to have sex, unwanted hugs or touches, attacks on the victim for the purpose of rape, as well as scrutiny and comments from strangers on the street. Women face harassment in a wide variety of settings - on the street, at work, on the Internet.
The danger of harassment is usually underestimated: women are urged to take street harassment as a compliment (although in reality they have nothing to do with compliments) and to enjoy sexual harassment. At the same time, more and more countries are fighting harassment at the legislative level: for example, street harassment was recently recognized in Portugal as an offense.
Childfree
(born child-free)
The advocates of childfree ideology consciously and fundamentally do not want to have children. The essence of childfri-movement is often misunderstood: in this case it is not about the impossibility of having children for any reason or about postponing the birth of children until a later date; The decision of childfree not to have children is the result of informed and voluntary choice. Not all childfree do not like children as such; People who do not like children are called child-heaters (they do not always share the views of child-free children and can have children of their own).
Often childfree, and especially women, face discrimination and misunderstanding, especially in a society where stereotypes are strongly influenced and where the birth of children is considered the main task of a woman.
Eylime
(eng. ableism)
Eymem is a relatively new term for the definition of discrimination against people with disabilities and disabilities. The word itself appeared in the early 80s of the last century, at about the same time when the world began to gain strength in the movement to protect the rights of people with disabilities, and began to use it relatively widely only a few years ago.
Euicomm is understood to mean various types and forms of discrimination: for people with disabilities and disabilities, not only the absence of special conditions can be demeaning, but also the widespread idea that they need help a priori - even if they do not ask for it.
Ageism
(English ageism)
Ageism is age discrimination that mainly affects older people. It can be expressed in policies and measures aimed at people of a certain age (for example, older people are often harder to find work), imposing stereotypes about older people and degrading attitudes towards older people. The manifestations of ageism can also face children and adolescents: their ideas and opinions are often not taken seriously because of age.
Images: Wikimedia (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)