Underlying Sexism and Violence in our Slangs and Jokes: Survey Interpretation

We often take pride to call ourselves human, yet we fail to embody the very essence of humanity. Looking around, it makes us doubt whether we are losing the necessary evidence to call ourselves human. Acts of kindness, empathy, and integrity have become so rare that when we witness someone displaying these qualities, we perceive them as extraordinary. In reality, they are simply being what every human is meant to be. The fact that basic human decency astonishes us reflects how much we, as a society, have strayed from our moral responsibilities, making humanity an exception but not a norm. So, as part of the endangered species, the primary responsibility of us should be to talk about the well-known social atrocities and  to talk about everyone's standpoint on it. And then, to really speak up about it to bring an effective change. If we are talking about profanity, we shall be well-versed in it. Readers, allow us to give you a crash course in the category of profanity and hire your own censor board for this (Uhm, we mean you are on your own) :D.

We, here at Scream conducted a survey to point out the standpoint of people about cursing. We are all pleased by the responses and people's diverse standpoints on cursing. And those will be the topic of discussion of this article.
(and as we promised, nobody's name from the survey will be disclosed in this article)

Q) From what age did you start swearing? 

ans) According to the survey, almost everybody started swearing in their early teens.

Q) What are some swear words that you use?

ans) People have responded with 'f#*k', 'b*k@ch*da', 'm@therf&cker', 'b@ra', etc.

Q) From where did you learn the words?

ans) Most of the people learnt it from school, followed by home, friends in locality and streets. 

Q) Do you realise or understand the literal meaning of the slangs?

ans) Many people seem to understand the literal meaning of the slangs while others- either they have never thought about it or they don't know at all yet proceed to use them.

Q) Do you think that the jokes and slangs used in daily life are often sexist and supports gender violence?

ans) Insights from the responses indicate that almost everybody think that jokes and slangs used in daily life are often sexist and supports gender violence. Yet most of us choose to continue using such slangs.
According to opinion of some cursing is okay in specific circle and friend group. But again in such the very topic of discussion is overlooked. That is why shall one curse or use profane language when they know that it encourages social distortions.
Some important points came forward from the survey.
Some opinions states that not all slangs support social issues such as sexism and gender violence . And it is okay to use such slangs. However it is agreed by most of the people that the swear words that demean humanity i.e those words which disrespect women, other communities, dehumanizes them, words that normalize social atrocities such as rape - should be avoided by all means.
Despite having these clear standpoints on whether or not one should curse, many happen to carry on the  practice. These things happen due to normalization in between people and also in many cases in uncontrollable anger or annoyance.

 

 Q) If you chose 'not all of them', can you identify the slangs that are the sign of greater problem in the society? 

ans) The result strongly suggests that the jokes and slangs used in daily life are reflection of greater deep-rooted problems of society.

 

The phrases or slangs mostly tend to  objectify the female body, often the male body, and also the overall the act of sex is potrayed in a very distorted manner. The phrases and slangs that encourage gender and caste violence, dehumanize women and criminalize prostitution. many such slangs were received as examples from the survey, thus we understand that many people are actually aware of these slangs.

- Sristi Bhowmick, Rwito Chakraborty, Madhyamik passout