'Snippa'
A success story of feminist language planning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v5i1.89Keywords:
Feminist language reform, Female Genitalia, MetalanguageAbstract
Second wave feminist linguistics has investigated sexist language practices. In Sweden it has often been claimed there is no neutral word for girls’ genitals. The article describes a feminist language reform aimed at establishing the word snippa as a neutral word for the female genitals. Snippa now seems to be one of the most common words to denote girls’ genitals, is included in dictionaries and used in printed books. The article discusses what made this reform successful and also considers whether the word is really the neutral word feminists were asking for. But despite the success of the reform, what to name the female genitalia is still being discussed. It is argued that these metalinguistic discussions are influenced by culturally constructed images of female sexuality, and part of the larger project of discussing and questioning images of female sexuality and women’s place in society.
References
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Milles, karin (2006) en jämställd kroppsdel? om lanseringen av ett neutralt ord för flickors könsorgan. [a gender equal part of the body? The introduction of a neutral word for girls’ genitals.] in Språk & stil 2006:16: 149–177.
Milles, karin (2008) Jämställt språk. [gender-neutral language.] Stockholm: norstedts akademiska.
Milles, karin (2009) klitoris orsakar orgasm. [Clitoris causes orgasm.] in Tidskrift för genusvetenskap 2009: 2–3; 119–137.
Milles, karin (2010) Kung Karl och kärleksgrottan. [king karl and the Cave of love.] Stockholm: norstedts akademiska.
Mills, Sara (2003) Third wave feminist linguistics and the analysis of sexism. Discourse Analysis Online. retrieved on 19 november 2008 from http:// extra.shu.ac.uk/daol/articles/open/2003/001/mills2003001-paper.html
Pauwels, anne (2003) linguistic sexism and feminist linguistic activism. in Janet Holmes and miriam meyerhoff (eds) The Handbook of Language and Gender 550–570.oxford: Blackwell.
Petersen, lis riber (1975) ”Bedepiger, styrkvinder og förmandinder.” [Bedgirls, steeringwomen and forewomen.] in Dansk Sprognævn: At færdas i sproget. Iagttagelser og synspunkter. Copenhagen: gyldendal.
rfSu (2009) Vaginal Corona. Myths surrounding Virginity – Your Questions Answered. Stockholm: rfSu. internet-access to the pamphlet: http://www. rfsu.se/upload/Pdf-material/Vaginal_corona2009.pdf
Sapir, edward (1921) Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. new york: Harcourt, Brace.
Saussure, ferdinand de (2006) Writings in General Linguistics, edited by Simon Bouquet and rudolf engler. oxford: oxford university Press.
Scholtz, anna and Sjöstrand, Camilla (2003) Flickans lilla. [The girls little one.] malmö: egmont richter.
Beauvoir, Simone de (1997) The Second Sex. london: Vintage.
Boston women’s Health Book Collective (1976) Our Bodies, Ourselves: A Book by and for Women. new york: Simon and Schuster.
Braun, Virginia and kitzinger, Celia (2001) telling it straight? dictionary definitions of women’s genitals. Journal of Sociolinguistics 5(2): 214–232. doi:10.1111/1467-9481.00148
Butler, Judith (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. new york: routledge.
Butler, Judith (1993) Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’. new york: routledge. Bästa språket – en samlad svensk språkpolitik [Best language – a concerted language policy for Sweden] (2005) Stockholm: regeringen.
Cameron, deborah (1990) The Feminist Critique of Language. london: routledge.
Cameron, deborah (1992) naming of parts: gender, culture, and terms for the penis among american college students. i: American Speech 67: 4. S. 367–382.
Cameron, deborah (1995) Verbal Hygiene. london and new york: routledge.
Cameron, deborah (2004) out of the bottle: The social life of metalanguage. in a. Jaworski, n. Coupland and d. galasi?ski (eds) Metalanguage: Social and Ideological Perspectives 311–321. Berlin & new york: mouton de gruyter.
Cooper, robert leon (1989) Language Planning and Social Change. Cambridge, new york & melbourne: Cambridge university Press.
Edenborg, Carl-michael (ed.) (2007) Köttets poesi. Könslemmarna i svensk text från Stiernhielm till Almqvist. [Poetry of the flesh. The sexual organs in Swedish texts from Stiernhielm to almqvist.] Stockholm: Vertigo.
Edlund, ann-Catrine (2004) kan män vara sjuksköterskor och kvinnor brandmän? om sambandet mellan yrkesbeteckningar och kön. [is it possible for men to be nurses and women to be firefighters?] in Den könsuppdelade arbetsmarknaden 263–280 (Statens offentliga utredningar: Swedish government report 43). Stockholm: fritzes.
Hausmann, ricardo, tyson, laura d. and Zahidi, Saadia (2007) The Global Gender Gap Report. geneva: world economic forum. retrieved on 28 november 2008 from http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2007.pdf
Hellinger, marlis and Bussmann, Hadumod (eds) (2001–2003) Gender across Languages: The Linguistic Representation of Women and Men. Volume 1–3. amsterdam: J. Benjamins.
Himanen, ritva (1990) Kvinnliga ombudsmän och manliga sjuksköterskor. Titlar och yrkesbeteckningar i nusvensk dagspress. [Female Ombudsmen and Male Nurses: Titles and Professional Titles in Contemporary Swedish Daily Press.] uppsala: Hallgren & fallgren.
Holmberg, Per (1995) on female job-titles in modern Swedish. in Per Holmberg and kerstin nordenstam (eds) Language and Gender: Case Studies from a Swedish Seminar 63–78. göteborg: göteborg university.
Hornscheidt, antje (2003) linguistic and public attitudes towards gender in Swedish. in marlis Hellinger and Hadumod Bussmann (eds) Gender across Languages: The Linguistic Representation of Women and Men 339–368.Volume 1–3. amsterdam: J. Benjamins.
Jaworski, adam, Coupland, nikolas and galasi?ski, dariusz (eds) (2004) Metalanguage: Social and Ideological Perspectives. Berlin & new york: mouton de gruyter.
Kaplan, robert B. and Baldauf Jr., richard (1997) Language Planning, from Practice to Theory. Clevedon: multilingual matters.
Kotsinas, ulla-Britt (2003) En bok om slang, typ. [A book about slang, sort of]. Stockholm: norstedts ordbok.
Kram, kristina (1998) “…blott rent undantagsvis om kvinnor” om representation av kvinnan i moderna ordböcker. [‘…about women just as an exception from the rule’. on the representation of the woman in modern dictionaries.] in Språk & stil 1998: 8: 159–171.
Landqvist, Hans (2001) Han, hon, han eller hon och hon eller han. generiska pronomen i svenskt författningsspråk.. [He, she, he or she and she and he. generic pronouns in Swedish legal texts). in kerstin nordenstam and kerstin norén (eds) Språk, kön och kultur. rapport från fjärde nordiska konferensen om språk och kön 150–162. göteborg: institutionen för svenska språket, göteborgs universitet.
Llindgren, Birgitta (2007) Språkvården och könsneutral referens [Swedish official language planning and gender neutral reference]. in Britt-louise gunnarsson, Sonja enzenberg, maria ohlsson (eds) Språk och kön i nutida och historiskt perspektiv 237–242. uppsala: institutionen för nordiska språk.
Mattisson, anki (2006) genusperspektiv på SaoB:s källor [gender Perspectives on the Sources to the Swedish academy dictionary.] in LexicoNordica 2006:13: 55–68.
Milani, tommaso m. (2007) Debating Swedish: Language Politics and Ideology in Contemporary Sweden. Stockholm: Centre for research on Bilingualism, Stockholm university.
Milles, karin (2006) en jämställd kroppsdel? om lanseringen av ett neutralt ord för flickors könsorgan. [a gender equal part of the body? The introduction of a neutral word for girls’ genitals.] in Språk & stil 2006:16: 149–177.
Milles, karin (2008) Jämställt språk. [gender-neutral language.] Stockholm: norstedts akademiska.
Milles, karin (2009) klitoris orsakar orgasm. [Clitoris causes orgasm.] in Tidskrift för genusvetenskap 2009: 2–3; 119–137.
Milles, karin (2010) Kung Karl och kärleksgrottan. [king karl and the Cave of love.] Stockholm: norstedts akademiska.
Mills, Sara (2003) Third wave feminist linguistics and the analysis of sexism. Discourse Analysis Online. retrieved on 19 november 2008 from http:// extra.shu.ac.uk/daol/articles/open/2003/001/mills2003001-paper.html
Pauwels, anne (2003) linguistic sexism and feminist linguistic activism. in Janet Holmes and miriam meyerhoff (eds) The Handbook of Language and Gender 550–570.oxford: Blackwell.
Petersen, lis riber (1975) ”Bedepiger, styrkvinder og förmandinder.” [Bedgirls, steeringwomen and forewomen.] in Dansk Sprognævn: At færdas i sproget. Iagttagelser og synspunkter. Copenhagen: gyldendal.
rfSu (2009) Vaginal Corona. Myths surrounding Virginity – Your Questions Answered. Stockholm: rfSu. internet-access to the pamphlet: http://www. rfsu.se/upload/Pdf-material/Vaginal_corona2009.pdf
Sapir, edward (1921) Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. new york: Harcourt, Brace.
Saussure, ferdinand de (2006) Writings in General Linguistics, edited by Simon Bouquet and rudolf engler. oxford: oxford university Press.
Scholtz, anna and Sjöstrand, Camilla (2003) Flickans lilla. [The girls little one.] malmö: egmont richter.
Published
2011-07-20
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Milles, K. (2011). ’Snippa’: A success story of feminist language planning. Gender and Language, 5(1), 89-109. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v5i1.89
