Brilliant naming “semantic gentrification”, Dave. And a clear, explanatory work of the problem we’ve all been immersed in.
I was noting this phenomenon on display with someone yesterday talking about how “success” in medicalization of gender as been changed from “the patient is medically and psychologically better” to “we did what you asked for” which also seems to operate to release them from any responsibility to track or be accountable for future adverse effects. Semantic gentrification— perfect.
Well said. I totally agree ,100% . We absolutely MUST fight this horror and take back our language .Castration and sterilisation of children and young adults should NEVER be tolerated in any civilised society ,but this is what's happening under the guise of " trans healthcare ". It's despicable ,and when you add on the destruction of women's rights ,safety and privacy and the abolition of child safeguarding ,then you'll get anarchy and barbarism !!
This text is brilliant. I'm wondering if you've seen the weird version of this that takes place in the youth queer communities on tumblr and tiktok, where people are doing this not with commonly understood words, but with their own terms, claiming they didn't create them in the first place.
A short while ago, there was "transmisogyny affected" and "transmisogyny exempt" for anyone who is a trans woman or isn't, respectively. And we had "bi lesbian" for someone who is bisexual but also calls herself a lesbian. Then there was a u-turn to "did you know TMA/TME was actually invented by terfs?" "bi lesbian is gross and probably a terf thing!"
You know, some languages don't refer to children as having a gender, so the discussion is somwhat moot - Dutch, which I speak, refers to "kind" or "child" as "het kind", which is neuter. An adult is "de persoon" or "the person" which indicates they are gendered. Gender atypical? Gendered in children is atypical.
Similarly, little boys and little girls both wore dresses in western culture up until somewhere between ages 4 and 8, perhaps less than 100 years back. The concept of a little boy wearing a dress as sex atypical is not the child's preference, but is entirely the parent's - children don't generally shop on Amazon for trousers until at least 8.5 years old. To top things off, it is more sex typical in western culture for boys than girls to play with dolls (especially male dolls with taut, swollen muscles) until young adulthood or beyond, as I see when I watch "Big Bang Theory" and watch the boys fuss over "action figures". Not once have I seen the female characters obsess over, or play with dolls of any sex.
The proper way to meet "semantic gentrification" is with ridicule, as in asking a straight “nonbinary” (poseur) man what they like most about sucking cock, watching them squim as you talk in great detail about it, then press them on having a dick-exclusionary vagina fetish, rhapsodise about anal hair, then tell them you were once "like them", but unlearned patriarchical sex phobias and learned to relax and "take it all in". Bonus points if you firmly put their hand on your bulging crotch, and when they gasp and jerk away, ensure maximal discomfort by telling them thats a normal gay reaction to their own suppressed nonbinary cocksucking desire. "I used to be like you until I was 9" really sets their head spinning. Ridicule best when deployed on a transpacific flight.
I wrote a one-page humorous "how to" guide to this in 1985 I think, friends found it posted by women in dorms around the world... This shittification of language crops up every decade or so.
And don't refer to this as semantic gentrification. Call something like sementastic langusge. Really vulgar langage has a way of bypassing the most rigorous semantic convolutions and lays bare the bullshit.
Brilliant naming “semantic gentrification”, Dave. And a clear, explanatory work of the problem we’ve all been immersed in.
I was noting this phenomenon on display with someone yesterday talking about how “success” in medicalization of gender as been changed from “the patient is medically and psychologically better” to “we did what you asked for” which also seems to operate to release them from any responsibility to track or be accountable for future adverse effects. Semantic gentrification— perfect.
A really great read but such a lot of horrors lie ahead to overcome.
Cheers
Very good read, but also chilling. Thanks
Very clear and helpful, if depressing! Thank you.
Really enjoyed this. Semantic gentrification is such a perfect phrase to describe the state of the world.
If only language theft were nothing new! How gay am I? Totally and not at all.
Well said. I totally agree ,100% . We absolutely MUST fight this horror and take back our language .Castration and sterilisation of children and young adults should NEVER be tolerated in any civilised society ,but this is what's happening under the guise of " trans healthcare ". It's despicable ,and when you add on the destruction of women's rights ,safety and privacy and the abolition of child safeguarding ,then you'll get anarchy and barbarism !!
This is a superlative article with great meta thinking on the changes and manipulative of language .
I will pass it around my psychotherapy network
This text is brilliant. I'm wondering if you've seen the weird version of this that takes place in the youth queer communities on tumblr and tiktok, where people are doing this not with commonly understood words, but with their own terms, claiming they didn't create them in the first place.
A short while ago, there was "transmisogyny affected" and "transmisogyny exempt" for anyone who is a trans woman or isn't, respectively. And we had "bi lesbian" for someone who is bisexual but also calls herself a lesbian. Then there was a u-turn to "did you know TMA/TME was actually invented by terfs?" "bi lesbian is gross and probably a terf thing!"
You know, some languages don't refer to children as having a gender, so the discussion is somwhat moot - Dutch, which I speak, refers to "kind" or "child" as "het kind", which is neuter. An adult is "de persoon" or "the person" which indicates they are gendered. Gender atypical? Gendered in children is atypical.
Similarly, little boys and little girls both wore dresses in western culture up until somewhere between ages 4 and 8, perhaps less than 100 years back. The concept of a little boy wearing a dress as sex atypical is not the child's preference, but is entirely the parent's - children don't generally shop on Amazon for trousers until at least 8.5 years old. To top things off, it is more sex typical in western culture for boys than girls to play with dolls (especially male dolls with taut, swollen muscles) until young adulthood or beyond, as I see when I watch "Big Bang Theory" and watch the boys fuss over "action figures". Not once have I seen the female characters obsess over, or play with dolls of any sex.
The proper way to meet "semantic gentrification" is with ridicule, as in asking a straight “nonbinary” (poseur) man what they like most about sucking cock, watching them squim as you talk in great detail about it, then press them on having a dick-exclusionary vagina fetish, rhapsodise about anal hair, then tell them you were once "like them", but unlearned patriarchical sex phobias and learned to relax and "take it all in". Bonus points if you firmly put their hand on your bulging crotch, and when they gasp and jerk away, ensure maximal discomfort by telling them thats a normal gay reaction to their own suppressed nonbinary cocksucking desire. "I used to be like you until I was 9" really sets their head spinning. Ridicule best when deployed on a transpacific flight.
I wrote a one-page humorous "how to" guide to this in 1985 I think, friends found it posted by women in dorms around the world... This shittification of language crops up every decade or so.
And don't refer to this as semantic gentrification. Call something like sementastic langusge. Really vulgar langage has a way of bypassing the most rigorous semantic convolutions and lays bare the bullshit.
Thank you for this post. "Semantic gentrification" is an excellent term, and I'll be using it generously from now on.