How to Discuss Human Rights in English: A Concise Vocabulary

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The life hacker understands what victim blaming, slut shaming, mensplacing are and how to use these words in the original language.

1. Ableism - ailism

The word appeared in the 80s by adding the suffix -ism to able (to be able) by analogy with sexism, racism and in other words, denoting discrimination.

Eyblim is a bias against people with disabilities. Its main manifestation is to consider a person without visible health disorders as a norm, and the rest as a deviation from it. In the framework of eyelism, they do not see a person behind a disease and spread all stereotypes associated with disability to him.

Usage example

What is ableism? My boss told me, “You’re really great at this job, but I need someone healthy in this office.” - What is ailism? My boss told me, "You're doing a good job, but I need someone healthy in the office."

2. Ageism - ageism

The word is formed according to the same principle as ableism, only its first part is age - "age". The term was first used in 1969 by Robert Neal Butler to describe discrimination against the elderly.

Now this word is used to describe prejudice against people of any age. And the refusal to hire because of gray hair, and the unwillingness to listen to a young man with the argument “grow up - you will understand” - all this is ageism.

Usage example

Ageism is equally as offensive as sexism. - Ageism is just as offensive as sexism.

3. Body positivity - body positivity

The term was first used in 1996, when the organization of the same name was created. The point of body positive is to accept and love your body as it is, and to stop pestering people with their stereotypes about who and how they should look.

Beauty standards are constantly changing, it is quite difficult to keep up with them. Due to the abundance of retouching in photographs, people are trying to focus on a deliberately unattainable ideal. This leads to painful preoccupation with appearance, neuroses and depression.

Usage example

Teenagers especially need body positivity, the knowledge that they are beautiful. - Teenagers especially need body positivity, the understanding that they are beautiful.

4. Body shaming - body shaming

Body shaming is the flip side of body positive, condemning people for not meeting certain ideals that exist in society or only in the head of the speaker. The term is made up of the words body - "body" and to shame - "to shame." Anyone can become a victim of bodyshaming. This phenomenon also has special cases - fat shaming and skinny shaming, condemnation for being overweight or underweight, respectively.

Usage example

I'm not a body shamer. But she is too fat to be happy. - I'm not a bodyshamer, but she's too fat to be happy.

5. Childfree - childfree

The term "childfree" has long been used to denote the deliberate abandonment of children. It is directly related to human rights, because this person himself has every right to independently decide how to use the reproductive system.

Usage example

Media have tended to depict childfree people negatively. - The media, as a rule, portray people who have deliberately decided not to have children negatively.

6. Colorism - colorism

The word "colorism" was first used in 1983, although the phenomenon that it describes is more than one hundred years old. We are talking about discrimination against people with a darker skin tone, most often within the same ethnic or racial group.

For example, in Europe, the USA, Asia, a pale skin color indicated a noble origin and the absence of the need to work in the field. In the same Asia, during the time of colonization, the local population began to orient themselves in the standards of beauty to Western appearance, so people with fair skin enjoyed greater favor.

Colorism is found even now when applying for a job or renting an apartment.

Usage example

It’s likely that British colonialism has played a role in India’s colorism. - Probably, the British colonial regime played a role in the development of Indian colorism.

7. Coming out - coming out

The expression denotes an open recognition by a person of his sexual orientation or gender identity. First of all, we are talking about LGBT people. If you decide to loudly declare that you are heterosexual, it will not come out, because it is easy and safe to admit that you belong to the majority.

In rare cases, this term refers to the disclosure of any kind of information that is usually concealed.

Usage example

Jodie Foster's coming out speech was really touching. - The speech with which Jodie Foster came out was really touching.

8. Gaslighting - gaslighting

Gaslighting is a type of psychological violence in which the aggressor tries to make the victim doubt his adequacy and believe in his version of what is happening. Unlike previous terms, this one does not consist of words that reflect a phenomenon. He appeared thanks to the film Gas Light, in which the main character manipulates the mind of his wife, and she begins to think that she is going crazy.

Usage example

In the first episode, woman is being gaslighted by her husband. - In the first episode, a woman was exposed to gaslighting from her husband.

9. Gendercide - gendercide

Gendercide is the systematic murder of people based on gender. The word was introduced in 1985 by American Mary Ann Warren. Particular cases of gendercide are femicide (extermination of women) and androcide (extermination of men). We can talk about both death due to the high level of violence enshrined in the culture, and selective abortion - termination of pregnancy if the child is “of the wrong” (usually female) sex.

Usage example

China and India are notorious for their practice of gendercide. - China and India are notorious for the practice of gendercide.

10. Glass ceiling - glass ceiling

The term was introduced in 1987. It identifies hidden and unreasonable barriers to career advancement for women, LGBT people and other non-white, heterosexual European men.

With a glass ceiling, professional competence is irrelevant. But a woman, for example, may be denied a promotion, because "she will have no one to discuss cosmetics with at a meeting of the board of directors."

Usage example

Daisy felt she hit a glass ceiling at work, because all of her male coworkers were promoted to management positions, while she was still considered a junior employee. “Daisy felt like she was hitting a glass ceiling at work because all of her male colleagues had been promoted and she was still at the starting position.

11. Lookism - lookism

Another term formed with the suffix -ism and the word look is "look", "look". It arose in the 70s of the XX century and was originally associated with the struggle for the rights of overweight people. Over the years, the problem of discrimination in appearance has become more widely considered.

Lookism presupposes a better attitude towards people whose appearance fits into modern standards. For example, if you offer help not to someone who is harder, but to someone who seems more beautiful to you, this is definitely discrimination in appearance.

Usage example

She got fired for her hairstyle. It is probably a serious case of lookism. - She was fired because of her hair. This is probably a serious case of lookism.

12. Male gaze - male gaze

The phrase literally translates as "male gaze" and denotes the practice when any phenomenon is evaluated from the standpoint of a heterosexual man and is perceived through the prism of his benefit or pleasure.

The term was coined by film theorist Laura Mulvey in 1975 when she raised the issue of the male gaze when talking about camera work. In The Postman Always Rings Twice, the camera takes a close-up of her body when the heroine first appears, focusing on her sexuality. Viewers get the opportunity to examine the woman in detail before they know her name.

Every time you see the same type of female characters with prominent shapes in a movie, or a naked girl advertising garden shovels, you are dealing with a masculine look.

Usage example

The male gaze is present in full force at the Oscars every year. - The male gaze in all its glory is present at every Oscar ceremony.

13. Mansplaining

Mensplaining is a relatively new word added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2014. It has two parts - man and explaining. They are called situations in which a man condescendingly explains something to a woman. He is sure in advance that the interlocutor does not understand the subject, and considers himself more competent. In this case, the speaker himself can carry outright nonsense.

There is no need to go far for examples, cases of mensplaining are found everywhere. If you live in a beautiful world without discrimination, just imagine a normal conversation in which a man explains to his interlocutor how to drive a car. At the same time, he does not even have a license, and she is a driving instructor. Everything that he will say until the moment she talks about the profession is mensplaining.

Usage example

Apparently, you can’t sell a second-hand car for as much as a new one. So glad he mansplained that to me. - Apparently, it is impossible to sell a used car at the price of a new one. It's great that he explained it to me (I wouldn't have guessed it myself).

14. Outing - outing

If coming out is a voluntary story about one's sexual orientation or gender identity, then outing is the disclosure of information about a person without his consent.

Details of someone else's personal life may come up by accident. For example, the narrator thought that everyone already knew about it, or blabbed it out. Or confidential information is disclosed on purpose, in order to harm. There is no doubt that the consequences will be negative. In some countries, due to outing, a person may lose his job or the location of acquaintances, in others, he may be killed.

The word came to the Russian language in the form of the noun "outing". In English, it can also be used as a verb to out.

Usage example

Outing a transgender person is not only a violation of privacy but also dangerous. - Outing transgender people is not only an invasion of privacy. This is dangerous.

15. Pro-choice - for the choice; pro-life - for life

Both of these terms relate to women's rights. The pro-choice position assumes that a person can control his own body and life, decide whether to keep the pregnancy or not. The pro-life movement deprives women of this right, because its supporters are more concerned with the safety of the fetus.

Usage example

Donald Trump has changed his view on abortion several times, from pro-choice in 1999 to pro-life today. - Donald Trump has changed his views on abortion several times - from pro-life in 1999 to prolife now.

16. Slut-shaming - slut shaming

The term consists of the parts slut (whore) and to shame (to shame) and is used to describe the phenomenon in which a woman is condemned for manifestations of sexuality. At the same time, there are no criteria by which the aggressor can accuse the victim of depraved behavior. Someone will reproach a woman for half-naked photos on the Internet, and someone - for going out in the evening with a trash can, because "decent people are sitting at home at this time."

Slatshaming is a purely gender phenomenon, since only women are condemned for “frivolous” behavior.

Usage example

Slut-shaming and the double standard have been a common occurrence in this days. - Slatshaming and double standards were common these days.

17. Victim blaming - victim blaming

The term consists of the words victim and blaming and is used in its direct meaning. Victimblaming is the transfer of responsibility for an incident onto the victim. Most often used in conversations about violence and rape. Any arguments with the meaning “asked for it myself” and “it's my own fault” can be attributed to victimblaming.

The practice of victim blaming is sometimes used as a psychological defense: people deliberately look for flaws in the victim in order to explain why the aggressor attacked her. It so happens that the accuser is allegedly outside the affected area, it will not affect him.

Usage example

Victim-blaming is a major reason that survivors of sexual and domestic violence do not report their assaults. - Victimblaming is the main reason that victims of sexual and domestic violence do not report assaults.