I think a normative approach to language use at all class levels is inherently classist.
Why just language? Why not all behavior? It seems that the logical endpoint is that people of privilege shouldn't hold any normative beliefs at all.
Note that I'm not saying that all classes should use the same language, simply that some things can be normatively wrong for the set of all classes which exist in the actual world.
Now, people of privilege are very likely to hold wrong normative beliefs as a result to the blindness caused by their privilege, whether it is male privilege or white privilege or whatever. And thus they should be very careful and respectful and listen and seek to learn as much as they can and revise their beliefs as necessary. But to expect them to not hold any normative beliefs at all seems to me to be ludicrous.
I just can't see how this approach doesn't lead to relativism, which as a feminist who believes sexism is an objective moral evil I can't accept.
no subject
Why just language? Why not all behavior? It seems that the logical endpoint is that people of privilege shouldn't hold any normative beliefs at all.
Note that I'm not saying that all classes should use the same language, simply that some things can be normatively wrong for the set of all classes which exist in the actual world.
Now, people of privilege are very likely to hold wrong normative beliefs as a result to the blindness caused by their privilege, whether it is male privilege or white privilege or whatever. And thus they should be very careful and respectful and listen and seek to learn as much as they can and revise their beliefs as necessary. But to expect them to not hold any normative beliefs at all seems to me to be ludicrous.
I just can't see how this approach doesn't lead to relativism, which as a feminist who believes sexism is an objective moral evil I can't accept.