From Kassandra to Olive Oyl

Rhiannon Martinucci

Women, at large, are a critically underrepresented group in terms of discussions at both the classroom and national level of most every "western" country", but especially for America. However, the stereotype abounds that women, especially women of color, are loud, brash, and unwilling to stop talking, ever. Compound this with the emotional stereotypes that are assigned to women, like that of the "angry" Black woman, and you create a society that ignores or dismisses over half its population anytime they talk, while the men around them are often lauded for simply repeating the ideas and statements women have already said.

This problem, of course, is not something that is just tied to the colonial past and after-effects of America, but also to a number of European countries as well. Places that were colonized by England, Spain, and France all have troubles similar, but these problems are most evident when we look at language. In Gloria Anzaldúa's "How to Tame a Wild Tongue", we get an upclose look her her relationship with languages and her "bilingual" nature, which seems to me to be more than bilingual because she's effectively speaking seven different languages, each with their own variations in grammar, word formation, situational appropriateness, etc. But what stands out to me the most is on page 76, when she points out that words like hocicona, repelona, and chimosa are all words that "[in her culture] are derogatory if applied to women--[she's] never heard them applied to men."

Unfortunately, this isn't uncommon, and what it leads to are schools, governments, and communities where women are unable to speak without being judged, to quote Anzaldúa, for having a "wild tongue".

Discussion Questions:
1. How can we, in our classrooms/schools, create a more understanding environment for female and femininely identified people in our community?
2. What are some long term of supporting women in public spaces when they are attempting to have their voices be heard?