Hxstory

[Kyriakos]

Those students should also call for renaming Hermes, i mean it obviously was a hate crime against his femininity. Hxmes FGSJ.

 

[Farm Boy]

Spot on.

I still love a SCOTUS case that declared over 200 years of the status quo to be settled law while providing room for the legal authority to implement both sweeping and fine tuned regulation being labeled as "conservatism unchecked" or similar. It's a pretty good fart sniffing test.

 

[Commodore]

This story just reaffirms my belief that the mewling of college students is to either be ignored or heavily mocked.

I mean, the youth of every generation always wonder why the older generation never listens to them or respects their views and crap like this is the reason why. Maybe when youth learn how to think critically, gain some perspective, and stop throwing toddler-like tantrums over non-issues, they will be taken seriously by the real adults in society. Until then, they need to just calm down, have an Eggo, and sit back down at the kiddy table of life.

 

[BenitoChavez]

Our ideological leanings lead us to the conclusion that freedom of speech is a good thing, but saying that freedom of speech is itself an ideology is nonsense.

These statements seem to contradict each other. Freedom of speech is part of an ideology so showing the cartoons to send the message that we value freedom of speech would be enforcing part of an ideology.

Better? Edits in bold

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

If "History" is offensive, what will the Assembly for Power and Liberation do when they look at the foreign language departments? Chinese doesn't have gender so I assume it won't be affected.

 

[NovaKart]

I think the issue of over zealous social justice workers is a legitimately serious issue for colleges and not just conservatives wanting to generalize. Professors face the threat of losing their jobs if they say the wrong thing if they teach at a university with a large crowd of these kinds of people. They can also face Title IX investigations with no representation and little transparency like what happened to Laura Kipnis who fortunately was cleared of any wrongdoing. The risk may be exaggerated but it is something to be concerned over.

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

I did a google search for "Hxstory" and found this (from 2013):

I don’t know what hxstory books you’re reading, but saying hxstory isn’t patriarchal is like saying the earth doesn’t gravitate around the sun. Western hxstory in particular is brimming with patriarchy and sexism. Look at the establishment of the United States of America, for instance. The stories of the “Founding Fathers” are written in our textbooks, they are portrayed extensively in television and film, and their faces are even plastered all over our money. But where are the Founding Mothers? Where are the womxn who made hxstory in America? Their stories are not told or readily found. Although the word “hxstory” itself may have started off as meaning “learned or wise man” and may not have been “patriarchal,” hxstory in its essence, in the way it is told, written, passed down, taught, and even thought, IS patriarchal. Hxstory is not dictated by how it is spelled. Ever since the first conquistadors sailed the ocean blue and claimed indigenous land as theirs, hxstory has been constructed and defined by who has the power to tell it and who has access to it. These people then decide who is excluded, whose existence, civilization, culture, and traditions are wiped out, denied, and pretty much ignored, from hxstory. And guess what? Most of the people who have written, dominated, and colonized the world with their hxstory are white men. Looks like someone needs a lesson on the coloniality of power!

 

[Ryika]

I did a google search for "Hxstory" and found this (from 2013):

It's like reading a fantasy book.

 

[NovaKart]

Well yeah western culture like most cultures is traditionally patriarchal but what's their point? Are they saying history shouldn't be taught? Or that equal time should be spent discussing Martha Washington and Abigail Addams as their husbands?

 

[Lexicus]

It's like reading a fantasy book.

The assertion that historiography has been mostly dominated by racist and sexist perspectives is hardly fantastical.

Well yeah western culture like most cultures is traditionally patriarchal but what's their point? Are they saying history shouldn't be taught? Or that equal time should be spent discussing Martha Washington and Abigail Addams as their husbands?

They're saying that history should be taught in a way that incorporates the perspectives of people who have typically been ignored and oppressed.

It really isn't all that big a deal.

 

[Kyriakos]

The assertion that historiography has been mostly dominated by racist and sexist perspectives is hardly fantastical.

You are hardly helping by not using 'hxstoriography'

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

It's like reading a fantasy book.

What scares me is that while we laugh at this now, in 30 years these college students will be the professors.

Well yeah western culture like most cultures is traditionally patriarchal but what's their point? Are they saying history shouldn't be taught? Or that equal time should be spent discussing Martha Washington and Abigail Addams as their husbands?

This is what she was replying to:

 

[NovaKart]

The assertion that historiography has been mostly dominated by racist and sexist perspectives is hardly fantastical.



They're saying that history should be taught in a way that incorporates the perspectives of people who have typically been ignored and oppressed.

It really isn't all that big a deal.

People already do that. It sounds like they're going for something more extreme.

 

[Nexlev]

I think this is all very hxsterical.

 

[warpus]

I don’t know what hxstory books you’re reading, but saying hxstory isn’t patriarchal is like saying the earth doesn’t gravitate around the sun. Western hxstory in particular is brimming with patriarchy and sexism.

Excuse me, but it's offensive to spell sexism like that.

The preferred non-patriarchal nomenclature is xexism.

 

[Ryika]

that historiography has been mostly dominated by racist and sexist perspectives

This does not even come close to summing up what is written in the text. You can't just pick the somewhat reasonable parts and then act as if the rest didn't exist.

 

[Kyriakos]

What scares me is that while we laugh at this now, in 30 years these college students will be the professors.



This is what she was replying to:

She is dead wrong. "Histor" isn't a word in the first place, and history comes from no term tied to gender. Either verb or noun or other are not tied to gender (historein/historia).
"Learned or wise" person is sophos (male) and sophe (female). And obviously the term has no 'h' in greek. (Istoria, etc).

 

[Arakhor]

Well, she's right about the 'man' bit. It descends from a PIE root meaning 'mind', from which we also derive such words as 'mental'.

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

From the same Tumblr account:

Anonymous asks: What does the x in hxstory represent?
Hi anon, thank you for asking this question! I’ve only recently begun to spell “hxstory” with an “x” and “womxn” with an “x.” I used to spell each word with a “y” which signifies, I’m sure you know, how hxstory is often thought and taught in such sexist, patriarchal terms. The “y” was meant to be an inclusive, progressive term that not only sheds light on the prejudice, discrimination, and institutional barriers womxn have faced, but to also show that womxn are not the extension of men (as hinted by the classic Bible story of Adam and Eve) but their own free and separate entities. The “y” was to promote female empowerment and liberation, but in reality, as I have learned recently, the terms “hystory” and “womyn” are not as inclusive or empowering as some feminists (mostly white liberals) make it out to be.
The usage of the “y” began at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, a celebration of womyn-born-womyn and the contributions they have made to music and art. This is exactly the reason why I no longer wish to spell womxn with a “y.” This specific festival doesn’t allow men or even trans-womxn to be a part of the event. Although I am all for a movement and a space that empowers womxn through music, the fact that they do not let trans-womxn attend shows how a lot of feminist movements have chosen to ignore the many struggles, identities, and intersectionalities of what it means to not only be born as a womxn, but to identify as a womxn. The “y” does not account for marginalized womxn groups or the many other feminist movements that have occurred throughout hxstory, such as third world feminist movements. In short, the “y” is a very white liberal way to look at feminism. It excludes womxn of color, trans-womxn, and other folks who may identity as womxn from the conversation and the movement.
I first saw the spelling of “hxstory” and “womxn” on a Tumblr post. Although I do not remember the post or the author (Sorry!), she wrote that she preferred to spell “hxstory” and “womxn” with an “x” because not only is it less transphobic and less racist, but because the “x” can represent anything really. Whether you identify as a womxn-born-womxn, trans-womxn, or a womxn of color, the ambiguity of the “x” stands for the many different identities, struggles, and movements womxn have been a part of and have overcome. All-in-all, it’s a more inclusive and more progressive term (at least to me anyway).

 

[Arakhor]

Some people have weird ideas, but it's the motives behind them that are far more important.