Gangs and swarms

[theHandpuppet]

308. I've been a sideline observer of this thread until now

The topic of gender and language fascinates me and though there has been some interesting (not to mention contentious) back and forth about why a word such as "swarm" is perceived as having negative gender connotations and use, I still wondered about why particular words find their way into the lexicon of gender wars. How might an otherwise innocuous word such as "swarm" evolve to represent the female threat to a fearful, misogynic mind?

I've been doing a bit of research on the topic and would like to pass along a study that was done regarding the nightmares of men and women and how these fears manifest themselves. I think the reason I'm passing this along will be clear without any explanation from me.

http://www.ravishly.com/2014/05/17/nightmares-gender-earthquakes-vs-arguments
Jane Jones on 06/02/2014
Nightmares by Gender: Earthquakes vs. Arguments

Sweet dreams are made of these, but what are nightmares made of? Turns out that depending on your naughty bits—surprise, surprise—men and women differ in what they dream about. According to the most comprehensive study of nightmares to date—has anybody watched The Cell recently? That sh*t is terrifying dream fodder—researchers have discovered that while some demons creep in the shadows of all our minds (like fear of failure, fear of assault and being chased), gender creates fascinating patterns in what torments our psyches. The study collected close to 10,000 reports from 572 men and women over several weeks, with conclusions that men are more likely to have nightmares about physical harm via natural disasters and chases/pursuits (including specifically being chased by swarms of insects). Sounds awful. In contrast, women more often reported feeling emotional peril through interpersonal conflicts—what did that b*tch just say?!—in addition to feelings of inadequacy, frustration or humiliation. Ugh, that sounds awful too. In addition, women’s dreams more often included a helping character, while men more often faced their harrowing journeys alone. Slate’s Katy Waldman points out—cleverly—the possibility of reporting bias in the study (i.e. men might be eager to report epic action scenes and be more reluctant to admit nightmares about touchy-feely stuff). Another possible issue: Of the 9,796 reports, only 253 qualified as nightmares by the study’s definition (apparently nightmares were defined only as dreams so intense and disturbing they woke your ass up) and that represents a relatively small sample size from which to draw conclusions. Hey! We’ve got an idea: let’s encourage women to handle the wasp infestation in the yard, and encourage men to break the news to ornery extended relatives that their nuclear family will be opting out of the Johnson Clan Jamboree this year. Scary stuff.


So... just how many of our subconscious fears work their way into our language without any waking recognition of how they got there and why? The image of misogynists being beset by a swarm of women is something that does crop up in internet discussions such as this one:

"I'm talking laws that benefit women more, how men are instantly seen as guilty when sued by a woman ( see man hitting woman in self defence getting flamed endlessly, this is rather common), but also stuff that benefits men more (I'm unaware of anything like that, but in order to avoid feminazis swarming me I will assume there is such a thing )."


Here again, in another blog in which the writer reacts defensively to what he perceives as his mistreatment by minorities for being a "white, straight guy":

If I am against sexism, and I am, how am I supposed to react to someone who regularly insults men as a gender, laughs off misandry as not existing and undermines genuine men’s issues?
If I am against the persecution of LGBT people, and I am, how am I supposed to react to someone who derisively refers to heterosexuals as ‘breeders’ or ‘cis’ in a sneering tone?
If I don’t think people should be judged for being poor, and I am, how am I suppose to react to someone who dismisses me (wrongly) for being affluent middle class?
Yet I find myself, more often than not, letting these things pass. Not because I don’t find them as objectionable as I do in other contexts, but because of the hypocrisy, the vitriol, the denial, the insults, the swarming pack tactics, the lies and misrepresentations are incredibly stressful and hurtful and aggravating.


I know this post is barely touching upon the topic of the OP's subject and there's no way to do it justice without a great deal more research on my part. I'm neither a linguist nor a psychologist but in even such a short time it became apparent to me that certain words do have particular and negative connotations when they are used as gender insults, even if the person employing such language is unaware of why this is so. Further, I failed to find an example of "woman swarm" that could be in any way deemed a positive image.

Lastly, whether or not you might think what I've provided in this post amounts to linguistic woo, the fact that some women here perceive certain words as gender insults cannot be dismissed. It is very real to them, whether or not it is real in your universe. Rather than play the "Gas Light" game on their heads -- and I'm referring to the classic film in which Charles Boyer rather successfully convinces his young wife that she's the one who's crazy -- why not examine the subject with a dispassionate view? Is it because the topic and these words involve women's feelings? Is there anything scarier than women's feelings, that hysterical, irrational lens through which women view the world? (I'm assuming I don't need the sarcasm tag here.)

That's all I've to say for this morning. Time for another cup of coffee.