Q WHAT'S ON A NAMEO00

by Irene Zenska

At the Gay Bicentennial Conference in Washington DC. some months ago a man referred to a feminist speaker as "the young lady." The speaker quickly replied, "I am not a young lady I am a woman worked hard to achieve that." Her retort was supported by thunderous applause from the audience.

Gay men find it difficult to comprehend why lesbians feel annoyed by such new four-letter words as "lady" To many men. gay or straight, feminists appear to be eccentric radicals whose concern for semantic subtleties is nothing short of a nuisance.

Thanks to separatism, lesbians have been afforded a unique opportunity to distill for themselves the genuine meaning of feminism Gay women have assembled an elaborate and sophisticated feminist philosophy uncomplicated by othersex considerations and distortions. Separatism has made it possible for some women to burn all bridges connecting them with an oppressive past and purge their psyches of societal impositions Over the past decade lesbians have achieved en masse the kind of objective introspection which other women and certainly men could hardly match

suggest that women

should not be sensitive (perceptive of) terminology or idiomatic constructions relevant to themselves is an outrage. It implies that feminist consciousnessraising is a shallow process, and that feminist thought is (or worse, should be) on a "sticks and stones" level.

The fact is, there is no such thing as a rose by any other name Human communication, is undertaken via a conglomerate of legitimately agreed upon symbols, all bearing deductive and inductive ramifications. Language itself reflects the values

and attitudes of a society. The label "lady". for instance. does not mean "woman."

"Lady" means "gentle woman," connoting a weak woman relative to a man, in short, an "oppressed woman." (It is derived from the AngloSaxon word for doughkneader.") Those males who feel that feminists are petty when it comes to words and expressions do not use the same logic when addressing blacks. for example A white man does not address a black man as "boy" or "nigger, assuming

that these terms are inconsequential, because he knows what the consequences of such usage would be. Should he expect any less from a woman?

Any individual or group deserves the right to be called what it wishes to be called and to be spared expressions which it determines are insulting Women cannot expect men to be educated by the feminist world outlook to the extent that most feminists are. but they can demand that men respect their analysis. It is for gay men to determine that they wish to be called "gay" and not "faggot" or "fairy, and not for society-atlarge. It is the privilege of women, and not men to elect to be title women." not "ladies." "broads. "birds." or anything else

pragmatic

Feminism is enough to forgive sexist "slips" such as lady." "Pandora's box." "skirting the issue." etc.. as long as they are sincerely recanted. (Indeed, many women still utter these indecencies.) But it can never excuse de liberate refusal on the part of men to comply with its ideology

Women cannot be held guilty for knowing too much The higher a woman elevates her self-awareness. the more intol erable becomes male sexist primitiveness. Separatism is not the fault of separatists any more than relief is the fault of the

IT'S O.K. IF YOU'RE GAY-32 INCHES AWAY

SAN BERNARDINO Psychology Today's January issue presents a report on a study of social distance between gays and straights. Stephen F. Morin, openly gay psychologist, led the experiment in collaboration with Kathleen E. Taylor and Stanley J. Kielman.

The three told 80 college students. 40 male and 40 female. that they each would be interviewed briefly about their attitudes toward homosexuality. Half of the time the experimenter wore a "gay and proud" button and was introduced as a representative of the Asso-

ciation of Gay Psychologists:

half of the time the same experimenter wore no button and was introduced as a graduate student working on his thesis.

The researchers were interested in how close each undergraduate placed his " her chair to the interviewer This Small measure of socia! Jis. tance. they proposed would tap unconscIOUS a::,s 40001 homosexuality

When the interview and the student were on "epp se sex. it didn't matter that one was homosexual Students sat average of 28 inches away from !hose wearing gay 158 proud button And 25 ་་ ་བ་, away from interviewers, N the button

51' 710

Not unexpectedly. Starterto got worried when they had t next to an same sex who they 1. gay. Now the ificantly increase i feared that a be would atta moment. Males nervous about.. by a gay MA thought: straight

22 inches from him. When they thought he was gay, they moved their chairs 32 inches away.

Interestingly, most of these students expressed tolerant at-

titudes toward homosexuals, but reporter Carol Tavris concludes. "their unconscious apprehension gave them away"

relieved. Feminist separatists find no value in overtures from gay men to "return to the fold It will require extensive and serious demonstrations of gay male enlightenment before lusbian separatists even begin to consider reducing the fertemale rift. To date, such der ก strations have not been n coming. Quite to the contrary. many prominent gay males !! manifest the most baal chauvinism.

To be sure, lesbians would benefit from exposure in male controlled media. funds in male organizations and enterprises. etc; but none of these advantages outweighs women's self. respect.

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