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Wordslut
- A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
- Narrated by: Amanda Montell
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
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Publisher's Summary
A brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist look at gendered language and the way it shapes us, written with humor and playfulness that challenges words and phrases and how we use them.
“I get so jazzed about the future of feminism knowing that Amanda Montell’s brilliance is rising 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 an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean a female canine, bitch didn’t refer to gender at all - it originated as a gender-neutral word meaning genitalia. A perfectly innocuous word devolving into a female insult is the case for tons more terms, including hussy - which simply meant housewife - or slut, which meant an untidy person and was also used to describe men. These words are just a few among history’s many English slurs hurled at women.
Amanda Montell, reporter and feminist linguist, deconstructs language - from insults and cursing, gossip, and catcalling to grammar and pronunciation patterns - to reveal the ways 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 use the word like as a filler? Or why certain gender-neutral terms stick and others don’t? Or where stereotypes of how women and men speak come from in the first place?
Montell effortlessly moves between history, science, and popular culture to explore these questions and more - and how we can use the answers to effect real social change. Montell’s irresistible humor shines through, making linguistics not only approachable, but both downright hilarious and profound, demonstrated in chapters such as:
- "Slutty Skanks and Nasty Dykes: A Comprehensive List of Gendered Insults"
- "How to Embarrass the Shit out of People Who Try to Correct Your Grammar"
- "F--k it: An Ode to Cursing While Female"
- "Cyclops, Panty Puppet, Bald Headed Bastard and 100+ Other Things to Call Your Genitalia"
Montell effortlessly moves between history and popular culture to explore these questions and more. Wordslut gets to the heart of our language, marvels at its elasticity, and sheds much-needed light into the biases that shadow women in our culture and our consciousness.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Wordslut
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- Brent
- 2021-11-13
Really informative and interesting!
Great book! worth while read/listen for men and women alike. Definitely makes you think about your choices of words more.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-03-30
Everyone needs to read this.
Well-written, fun, and very informative.
If you’re a woman or know a woman, you need to read this.
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- Emma
- 2023-09-20
Interesting, insightful, relevant
I have already recommended it to multiple people before I even finished the book. Once finished I recommended it to more people.
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- Sketchthekidd
- 2023-05-26
Wordslut
A lighthearted and deep thinking look at the English language and the way we like to use it.
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- Kindle Customer
- 2021-05-18
Recommending this to everyone I know!
Sometimes when listening to books that are educational in nature, my metaphorical eyes glaze over. That was not the case with this read. Montell takes a deep dive on many language related phenomena we all experience but don't realize. Personally, I experienced many lightbulb moments while listening and clung to every word. I believe this is one of those reads you want to share with everyone in the hopes of making the world a kinder place.
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- Mercy
- 2022-02-09
Informative and Entertaining
This book has lots of nuggets of information that made me stop and think about the way I talk and how I assess others’ communication. I especially liked learning about how women traverse topics differently than men - I’d never realized before why the conversations flow more easily when I’m with other women and why it’s important to have female voices explaining current events, leading focus groups, and researching linguistics, for example.
I started this book expecting to learn about gendered language and that was satisfied by the first chapters. Then we took a path down cultural norms, judging language “errors,” and - to my surprise - gay and lesbian communication stereotypes.
The book is beautifully narrated and peppered with humour. It’s an easy listen and I absorbed the information without having to go back and repeat any sections.
My only disappointment is that the book did get away from language and into gender identity theory, where it incorrectly defined biological sex. I found this error surprising, given that it’s written by someone who has a deep interest in the meanings of words and phrases. The book could have done without the chapter altogether or the author could have consulted with evolutionary and developmental biologists to avoid this error.
Overall, though, I’m very happy with the book and I’ll be listening to it again.
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