Emotional, bitch, cunt, cow, needy, can't drive, ugly, weak, good for nothing and soft  are words frequently used to describe women and they carry assumptions about how we value women and where we believe women should be.

 

Words are powerful!

 

If used systematically, words are a way of reinforcing some behaviours while curtailing others. That is, words are tools of socialisation. However, words are not only used to socialise women but men as well: dog, pig, violent, jigalo, dick, pussy, coward.

 

As much as negative words are used to describe women and men, so too are positive ones: caring, kind, nurturing (women) or strong, brave, powerful (man). However, it is easy to forget that these words also carry assumptions about where we believe women (the home) and men (the work place) should be in society and how they should act. 

 

Originally started to coincide with 16 Days of Activism this campaign wants people to question the assumptions implicit in words, we want people to stop and think about the words they use, why they use them, and what the implications are of their systematic use.

 

Language is used to maintain a status-quo but we want to disrupt the normality and usage of them. What do words such as these mean in terms of women and men's ability to move, have equal access to resources, and ideas of self-worth? 

 

If we are to ever truly combat physical violence, we need to recognise that it is entrenched through social violence which is embedded in language and practiced in our day-to-day lives. 

 

It is our hope that discussions around language in general, and how language is used in a gender violent way in particular, will disrupt people's own (both men and women) taken for granted assumptions. It will make the implicit meanings of such words explicit and in doing so will get people thinking about not only the power of language but the power of those who have the means to manipulate it. 

 

In this campaign we allow regular women and men to tell us why they believe these words are socially violent and damaging and we encourgae participation from those active on social media. Through this campaign we hope to create a visible discussion which enables wide participation because if people are talking about the language they use they are, in effect, destabilising it and the actions it can inform.