Robin, Britney, & Christina, or Pop (Music) Goes Lakoff

The basis for this post came from Katie Carlson.

The discussions of the Lakoff ("You Are What You Say") and Nilsen ("Sexism in English") readings apparently reminded Katie of the works of those famed modern philosophers, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. For personal reasons, Katie did not have time to make extensive comments but she did suggest the following song lyrics (click on the links) and potential lines of thought and consideration.

"Boys" by Britney Spears -- uses the type of language discussed in the readings; I would add, take note of the arena where the female has "mastery" in the song

"Can't Hold Us Down" by Christina Aguilera (caution: contains some explicit lines) -- talks about women not being allowed to speak like men (and I would add, or act like men)

Lakoff, Language, and Women's Place

While searching for bibliographic information (or at least a publication date) for the Robin Lakoff reading, "You Are What You Say," I came across this blog post by an individual who claims to know Lakoff. And I get the impression that he is responding to essentially the same ideas as those presented in our reading.

"Language and Women's Place" [his title, not mine, so please don't throw rocks ;-) ]

This post may present a nice place to continue, extend, and ultimately bring some (though not complete) closure to our class discussions.

For now, I'm going to let the linked item stand on its own, as I think it provides ample and obvious material to respond to. But, I may come back and point out some elements to consider and comment on.

Update on 5/28:
"...bring some closure to our class discussion." Ha, ha! That was a good one, and I should have known better. With 13 comments on this post and 12 comments on the "Robin, Britney, and Christina..." post, it appears the debate rages on.