Stigma
(Vera Speaking)

 
 
Return To Main Path
 
 
 
 
 
 

I want to make the connection to women here. We need to stretch our concept of hate speech to do it. We use language to construct our ideas of some groups as intrinsically inferior to others and less worthy of concern and respect. We can also use images. That's where pornography and the harm it does to women come in.

Pornography works against women in the same way as words like "nigger" work against African Americans. Part of the stigma for women is their construction as sexual objects without the same intrinsic value as men. Pornography is one of the major ways in which we construct the idea men have of women. This does great harm to women indirectly because men will act toward women according to their idea of women. I don't think we can change the action until we change the idea.

Ariadne Home Hate Speech
Bibliography		 Hate Speech
Home