Telling a female they've got balls because they did something audacious is patriarchally condescending. As if only men can do brave things. Another example of word shaping thought.

changing the way you talk to someone just because that someone happens to be a woman and you want to protect her from condescending speech is "patriarchally condescending."

Possibly true. Depends why you're doing it. To change the way you talk you have to change the way you think. Why use "ballsy" when "gutsy" is exactly the same meaning, bar the gender discrimination? For any listener? My motives are to prevent myself being "patriarchal and condesecending," since there's no place for that when we're all equally worthy til proven otherwise. Most people won't even notice; it's *my* thoughts I'm concerned with. If anyone else is jogged into thinking about their own attitudes, that's up to them.

Or of, you know, comedic irony.

If you can't tell a woman that she has balls then you miss out on some great sight gags. You also lose out on the ability to make puns when a woman boats someone to death with a meteor hammer disguised as baoding balls like that guy in that action movie whose title and plot I can't remember.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmhwO0RIepM

The above is to help people feel empowered if they felt disempowered by the "she has balls" line.

I'm lovin' the soundtrack

I have to tell you. Few things pump me up and make me feel empowered as much as the musical scores of pulp Japanese cinema from the 70s can. Listening to it is like collecting an invincibility star in Mario Brothers.

Remind me not to go driving with you with that on the stereo!

You know, once upon a time, I trained with a kickboxing coach who had a CD with alternating 2- and 1- minute tracks so that we could time rounds and rest periods without needing to use a stopwatch. As I recall the fight tracks tended to be Linkin Park angst music whereas the rest periods tended to be Linkin Park slightly calmer or more low key music. It was a good idea but the side affect was listening to exactly the same music for like an hour during sparring sessions.

But imagine how empowering it would be if instead you had 2 minute clips of Japanese 70s martial arts film theme music for your fight tracks. Imagine if you were busy being slugged across the face but that music you just heard were blaring the whole time. It would make you get so pumped up that instead of just getting beat you'd duck and counter-punch to the liver. Maybe the rest periods could be 1 minute of sound clips from Bloodsport.

EDIT: MOAR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uc-uN0yXeY (skip ahead to 5:40 for the theme music)

EDIT 2: This one's even better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8nQYVefovc

I wish I got that. My coach insists on playing ceremonial thai music during practice (snooze).

what i meant was threefold - first of all, you cannot consciously escape from patriarchy without at the same time reinforcing it. second of all, your example of something patriarchal (telling a women that 'she's ballsy') was totally devoid of context; you attributed human qualities (specifically that of enforcing patriarchy) to a non-human thing, a word, when that word is only related to patriarchy through it's "patriarchal use," as it were; third, your reasoning (essentially protecting women from patriarchy) is actually heavily patriarchal in influence.

you are using a male solution to the problem of "too many male solutions" as it were. paradoxical. but i guess this is really neither here nor there anymore

reminds me of a buddy of mine . . i will happyly and blissfully drift off to a relaxing slumber while in a car driven at 200km/h . . but if he puts in certain music and buckle up and grip onto the handles for dear life x.x . .
am actively using that technic to make the bus-drivers go faster when i wanna go home from work ^^
me? if i need to feel powered up, nothing beats some industrial or GOOD metal / rock to get me going . .
i was practicing tae kwon do once in my life, and the co-owner&trainer at the dojo made the mistake of playing some of that music . . the one time i actually managed to beat him ^^#

It just goes to show how the world would be a better place if everyone were as enthusiastic about asian pulp cinema from the 70s as I am.

You don't know me. Your assertions are mistaken. Bye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCu7X92g5i4...feature=related

"Sister Street Fighter" simultaneously has a rocking 70s Japanese soundtrack and is probably one of my favorite movies. I think I've watched it at least 10 times.

that's it! my next shadowrun character will be called: "Sony Chiba" =

Cheers!

Max

Nothing says "Chick Run" like Cynthia Rothrock dubbed in some Asian language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocRkfOv-1L4