A brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist take a look at gendered language and the way it styles us, written with humor and playfulness that difficulties words and phrases and how we use them.

“I get so jazzed about the continuing future of feminism understanding that Amanda Montell’s brilliance is growing up and about to explode worldwide.”-Jill Soloway

The word bitch conjures many images for many people, but it is most often meant to describe a distressing woman. Actually before its use to mean a female about Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back again the British Language canine, bitch didn’t make reference to gender at all-it originated like a gender-neutral word meaning genitalia. A flawlessly innocuous term devolving right into a feminine insult may be the case for plenty more terms, including hussy-which basically supposed housewife-or slut, which meant an untidy person and was also used to describe guys. These words are just several among history’s many British slurs hurled at ladies.

Amanda Montell, reporter and feminist linguist, deconstructs language-from insults and cursing, gossip, and catcalling to grammar and pronunciation patterns-to reveal the methods it has been used for centuries to keep women and other marginalized genders from power. Ever wonder why so many people are annoyed when women talk with vocal fry or utilize the word like being a filler? Or why certain gender-neutral terms stick while others don’t? Or where stereotypes of how women and men speak come from in the first place?

Montell effortlessly goes between history, science, and popular tradition to explore these questions and more-and how we may use the answers to impact real social switch. Montell’s irresistible laughter shines through, making linguistics not only approachable but both downright hilarious and profound, showed in chapters such as for example:

Slutty Skanks and Nasty Dykes: A THOROUGH Set of Gendered InsultsHow to Embarrass the Shit Out of People Who Make an effort to Correct Your GrammarFuck it: An Ode to Cursing While FemaleCyclops, Panty Puppet, Bald Headed Bastard and 100+ OTHER ACTIVITIES to Call Your GenitaliaMontell effortlessly goes between history and popular culture to explore these questions and even more. Wordslut reaches the center of our vocabulary, marvels at its elasticity, and sheds much-needed light into the biases that shadow ladies in our lifestyle and our consciousness.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.