In the wake of the Misogyny Wars breaking out of Federal Parliament and the Macquarie Dictionary running with the pack to change the meaning of a word to match political usage, is it too late to suggest an alternative candidate?
How about a new word that allows misogyny to retain its current dictionary meaning, as the definition of an unhealthy hatred of women, but is stronger than sexism as a way to describe entrenched sexist attitudes.
Quite a few people have suggested that a new word be created and in the spirit of clarity I suggest sexogyny, merging sexism and misogyny to describe an underlying attitude of sexism.
This would then keep the cutting edge on a word that clearly describes a pathological state of mind.
If we allow words to be twisted to fit political and feminist usage, then we will not have a word to describe a woman hater and may even find ourselves sued to the hilt for calling someone that when we meant something else.
This is not the first time that a change in language has emerged from the feminist camp, without regard for the society as a whole.
The word man, for instance, is very old, running back 5000 years to ancient Sanskrit, with Manu being the first man-woman.
Among the Vikings, speaking a descendent of Sanskrit with Old Norse, Manu became man, as a word for house-folk.
The word man came into English with the Vikings, along with many of their words, where its primary meaning until recent decades was as a word for all people and secondly as a word for men.
Rather than attacking the word man with Amazonian ferocity, a new word could have been proposed for the male that complimented woman, such as heman, thus leaving the word man in its ancient cultural meaning and striding forward into a genuine gender equity.
In politics, however, there is more to gain through conflict and just as the word man was battered from its original meaning and changed, along with a vast body of words that connect with man, we must now wonder if the use of misogyny has become a weapon of choice in the hands of feminists.
With Prime Minister Gillard’s speech going viral globally, we may now wonder if the Oxford English Dictionary will follow the Macquarie, and change the meaning of misogyny to fit its use on the floor of the House in Canberra.
Or will public rage sweep back on the political word-twisters to demand clear English usage, so we can know what we mean when we speak or write.
It might be too late for the word man, but then, when people wake up to the fact that the words we use are determined through usage and at times, through political action, then it is always possible that the war of the words will swing back to demand greater respect for our word culture, so that our language may be clear and strong.
