“Politically correct”
- How do you feel about the concept of ‘politically correct’ language? Are you anxious? Fearful? Comfortable? Uncomfortable? Indifferent?
- Where do you think these feelings come from?
- Can you identify people in your life – your friends, family, or co-workers – who are particularly passionate about this issue, regardless of their opinion? Where do you think that passion comes from?
- Is there an artist that you can identify who’s done a good job at being particularly inclusive? Can you identify an artist who’s made a mistake around PC language and has then sought to correct it? How do you feel about this?
~I think the term ‘politically correct’ is misplaced. If a shift in language is occurring to signal a change in perceptions of self and aspects of identity, then perhaps psychologically correct or self-correct, or self- or identity-affirming would be more fitting. Politics affects identity, to be sure, as does identity affect politics.
I am open to changing and transforming language to realise evolving notions of identity. I feel less and less connected to the concept of gender as I consider its performative nature (Film & Media Studies 2020). I suppose it is in this sense that language can be most easily seen as politically constructed, as it takes shape around roles and shapes roles in equal measure.
Further, as those roles stringently linked to sex and gender definitions continue to break down and give way to original forms and ideas, I find myself, at least internally, becoming increasingly comfortable with and accepting of queer community language and terms, even using ‘queer’ and ‘queerness’ to refer to myself where it feels fitting.
~Most of my immediate family are opposed in their opinions and feelings to ‘politically correct’ society in the sense of the rainbow alphabet and its members. This is grounded in firm religious (Christian) identity and traditional notions of family and functional society. Other experiences I am unaware of may contribute to passionate feelings against LGBTQIA+ persons.
(Wikipedia 2022)
~Robin Skinner, 22, from the UK, creating and performing music under the eponym ‘Cavetown’, has been quite open about finding an identity that feels true to him/them. Much of his/their music seems to have been born out of this search, and it appeals to members of the queer community likely because it echoes their own quests to find truth inside.
Skinner came out as transgender in September 2020. He/they have also spoken about being on the aromantic/asexual spectrums (Wikipedia 2022).
References
Film & Media Studies 2020, Judith Butler’s Theory of Gender Performativity, Explained, YouTube video,
viewed 6 December 2022, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XFg8f1STLk>.
Wikipedia 2022, Cavetown, Wikimedia, San Francisco, California, viewed 29 November 2022, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavetown>.
Wikipedia 2022, Cavetown talking with Rimmers Music about his guitars, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Scottsdale, Ariz., U.S.A., viewed 20 December 2022, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavetown>.
