So what about this?
We talk about how many women were raped last year, not about how many men raped women. We talk about how many girls in a school district were harassed last year, not about how many boys harassed girls … So you can see how the use of the passive voice has a political effect. [It] shifts the focus off of men and boys and onto girls and women. Even the term “violence against women” is problematic. It’s a passive construction; there’s no active agent in the sentence. It’s a bad thing that happens to women, but when you look at that term “violence against women,” nobody is doing it to them. It just happens to them … Men aren’t even a part of it!
– Jackson Katz
If this is the way we think and speak, who are we blaming?
On whom are we placing the responsibility?
I am going to change the way I speak about harassment and abuse and rape.
How about you?