"Male supremacy is fused into the language, so that every sentence both heralds and affirms it"
- Andrea Dworkin
About this Quote
This quote by Andrea Dworkin speaks to the prevalent nature of male supremacy in our language. She is suggesting that male supremacy is so deeply ingrained in our language that it is practically difficult to escape. Every sentence we speak, whether knowingly or automatically, strengthens the idea of male supremacy. This is particularly real in languages that have gendered pronouns, such as Spanish and French, where the default pronoun is male. Even in English, which does not have gendered pronouns, male supremacy is still present in the language. For instance, the word "mankind" is used to describe all of mankind, despite the fact that it omits females. This quote acts as a suggestion that language is a powerful tool and can be utilized to both perpetuate and challenge overbearing systems.
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