Delegitimatizing Language
Yes, it's a small surprise that erstwhile presidential candidate John Edwards had a (rumored) affair with a woman not his wife, and a somewhat larger surprise that they decided to carry a (rumored) resulting pregnancy to term. Knowing nothing else but what I hear in the meta-tabloids it's actually pretty of cool that Edwards cared enough about his (rumored) partner and child to visit them despite, evidently, knowing that members of the yellow press (Mickey Kaus, National Enquirer, Matt Drudge) were stalking him. It's even cool that Edward's primary partner Elizabeth (rumor has it) may have known and/or been supportive, though whether before or after the (rumored) fact is even less clear than all the other (rumors.)
Oh yeah, and it's even cool that despite this being the 21st Century and all and palm-sized high-definition video cameras work even better than the old tabloid-style flashbulb film cameras, the Enquirer reporters on the Edwards stakeout, didn't even manage to catch a cell-phone photo... which more than anything else to me suggests the whole thing *really is* a rumor.
What's not so cool? That in the 21s Century anyone's using the term "love child" to describe another human being, another person, a fellow citizen, and, y'know, a little *baby!* I mean... *love child?*
I mean, if you still precede your conceptual exclamation points with "dash it all" and "zounds" then maybe you get a pass on "love child." But sweet mother of pearl it's inappropriate otherwise.
Oh yeah, and if any enterprising students have been or plan to dig into the cultural concepts behind the term, especially in light of the traditions of, well, *real* "traditional marriages" as tactical or strategic economic arrangements between families rather than romantic unions between individuals, and the sneering implication that children born out of non-arranged unions, unlike "legitimate" heirs, are dismissed as products of mere *love,* I'd be delighted to link to their work here.
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Note also the common construction got her pregnant. That too works with the agrarian pre-scientific reproductive metaphors that gave us terms like "seed," "fertile," "husband(!)," and perhaps even "sex(!!!)" wherein "impregnation" is *entirely* a male-partner activity that merely *happens* to the perhaps otherwise passive female partner.
Note also the common construction got her pregnant. That too works with the agrarian pre-scientific reproductive metaphors that gave us terms like "seed," "fertile," "husband(!)," and perhaps even "sex(!!!)" wherein "impregnation" is *entirely* a male-partner activity that merely *happens* to the perhaps otherwise passive female partner.
Word. Reading Emily Martin's "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles" illustrates these linguistic connotastions quite welll and should be mandatory reading for, well, everyone. It's one of my favorite articles to teach!
I'm trying really hard to think of an expression for "the male role in creating a zygote" that *doesn't* rely on the active male/passive female dichotomy - and I'm coming up with a big old blank. It's bothering me because I used the phrase "if either of my boys ever got a girl pregnant" in a post last week, and I couldn't think of an alternative then, either.
Anyone have an idea for a less-charged way of expressing this? To "sire" or "impregnate" has the same problem. "Beget" might actually not be so bad except for me it conjures up Old Testament patriarchy. To "father" has social connotations as well as biological ones.
Lindabeth, I love Martin's article too. I heard her present an early version of it back in 1989 and it helped steer me toward my eventual research specialization. But when I teach it, I get two objections that aren't easily countered: 1) it's out of date, and 2) it focuses too narrowly on science textbooks. I've met #1 by pairing it with Lisa Jean Moore's recent work on semen and #2 by discussing how "expert" biomedical knowledge trickles down to the rest of us. But I'm interested to know if you have additional strategies.
Yep, whenever I need my sapiosexual fix, I visit your blog. :)