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  • Wordslut

  • A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
  • By: Amanda Montell
  • Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard
  • Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (50 ratings)

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Wordslut

By: Amanda Montell
Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard
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Publisher's Summary

A brash, enlightening and wildly entertaining look at gendered language and the way it shapes us.  

English is scattered with perfectly innocuous words that have devolved into insults hurled at women. The word ‘bitch’ originally meant male or female genitalia. ‘Hussy’ was simply a housewife, and a ‘slut’ was an untidy man or woman.  

Amanda Montell, feminist linguist and features editor at online magazine Byrdie, explains why words matter and why it’s imperative that women embrace their unique relationship with language. Drawing on fascinating research, and moving effortlessly between history and pop culture, Montell deconstructs language - from insults and cursing to grammar and pronunciation - to reveal the ways it has been used for centuries to gaslight women and keep them from gaining equality. 

Montell’s irresistible intelligence and humour shines through as she makes linguistics not only approachable but downright enthralling.  

Far from being crushed by mansplainers and misogynists, women have a superior capacity to adapt to linguistic change and tend to be at the forefront of linguistic trends. Wordslut gets to the heart of our language, sheds light into the biases that shadow women in our culture and shows how to embrace language to verbally smash the patriarchy.

©2019 Helen FitzGerald (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

What listeners say about Wordslut

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  • SJ
  • 01-11-2022

Linguistics is my jam

A brilliant & thorough dissection of how words have the power we ideologically ascribe them. I knew I'd enjoy this book. I didn't know it would resonate so completely with me, not just as a feminist but as a user of words. Well worth using my very first Audible credit. Highly recommend!

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Best book I’ve listened to recently

This was AMAZING! So informative, but also, hilarious! Amanda is an excellent writer, super talented. As a staunch feminist who has read a lot of feminist lit, this was a great add to my feminist lit library. I had never really thought about feminism when it came to language, so thank you Amanda for educating me!

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Informative & entertaining

This book is really interesting and gives an excellent history of language. I particularly enjoyed how swearing and insults developed, and how so much of our language today was invented by marginalized groups. The narration is great and feels like having a chat with a close friend. Overall a very fun book to listen to.

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Thoroughly entertaining and educational

Funny, compelling and with great narration; my Autistic self thanks the author for igniting a passion for linguistics i never knew i had! Fantastic book!

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A MUST READ for ALL women

Wordslut tells the tale of women's oppression through language over time.

it teaches about the etymology of some of the worst slurs against a women and show you just how misogynistic the English language is.

Once you've finished this amazing book head over to Amanda's other book, Cultish.

Amanda is a master of language!

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  • KT
  • 01-12-2020

Has opened my eyes! ...and ears!

I loved every minute if this book, made me think so much about the way I use language and the way language is used around me. Brilliant!
I think I will read this again, many times!

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Not All Feminists Agree

I agree with the basic ideas in this book but wonder how helpful it is to change language that women already find powerful. This felt like a book describing the shift of the use of the English language to hurt one oppressed people to another.

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Feminism? or Gender Ideology?

This book started with the interesting background of various words in relation to women but then it became largely a discussion on neutralising language completely in favour of the LGBTQ+ community. The author went from 'a linguist will never judge your words' to 'if you can't accept a pronoun then you're intolerant'.

I'm not sure how women's medical services should be for "people with a cervix!" is in keeping with feminism and women's best interests in language, but that's just my take on it.

Meanwhile the narrator was excellent! Listening to this book truly felt like a conversation and not a lecture.

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Disappointing

I read 'Cultish' twice and thoroughly enjoyed it; well-researched and written and read beautifully by the author.
However, as a 65 year old woman who has always been a feminist, I believe I'm not the target market for this one.
There were things that just did not make sense to me.

For example, Montell was advocating the use of 'like' quite strongly. I believe she has done or does do it herself and feels a need to reinforce its 'rightness'. Trouble is it's just awful. Montell believes it's fine and the reason it gets slammed by people is because it's a female thing. I think she's wrong on both counts. Who wants to listen to sentences that are at least 10% 'like'? What purpose does it have? Montell has no answer for that. Also I don't believe it's a female thing. I have written to podcasters and interviewers, both male and female, asking them to please not do this. It's unprofessional and annoying. I was astounded to hear MSNBC's Chris Hayes use 'like' constantly in an interview. It seems someone has said something to him as it's now stopped.

'I am good' versus 'I am well': apparently 'I am good' is good, and 'I am well' is definitely not. How this got into the book I know not.. it doesn't seem to relate to women. But here in Australia 'I am well' is definitely used and is considered to be correct.

Montell's idioms such as 'zip his flap', a play on the old English 'zip his lip', or before zips, 'button his lip', can be ugly and certainly not an improvement on the old one.

I found her arguments confrontational and emotive. I'm not sure, as feminists, that we get very far that way.
Bouvard too, 'emoted' the book rather than read it.

I think the target market for this is young women, and if that's the case, Montell is probably just preaching to the converted.

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