2008 Woodie Awards
The hurtful power of words
Michael Pasaoa
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: News
"Bitch." "Faggot." "Nigger." "Wetback." "F.O.B." All of these were at the heart of open discussion among the crowd of around 40 in the "Words That Hurt" event Wednesday in the Almaden room in the Student Union.
"If my brother calls his girlfriend his bitch, she's like, 'Aww,'" one student said.
Christopher Riney, an adversity advocate intern for the Mosaic Cross Cultural Center and senior public relations major, came up with the idea for the event.
Students were asked to come up with a list about what they felt about the word "bitch." While "animal," "dehumanizing" and "weakness" appeared, others added the likes of "independent."
Some were shocked to find that "bitch" is in the Oxford dictionary, which defines it as "a woman whom one considers to be malicious or unpleasant."
The word "bitch" focuses on that it's bad to be female, said Josie Vasquez, a senior sociology major.
"On a college campus you think people would be more aware," Riney said. "But a lot aren't."
Riney chose to host "Words That Hurt" because people go through their day using words in a certain tone that they think makes it acceptable, he said.
"You hear it all the time in class," Riney said. "Like 'that's so gay,' and they don't know if the person they're talking to is gay. It might keep that person closeted."
"I laughed at (the movie) 'Superbad' all the time," Noelle Cleveland, City Year employee said in reference to the character Seth calling his friend Fogell a "faggle."
"I think the word itself is funny," she said.
Riney said that sometimes adults believe other adults should tolerate the words. But not everyone takes words the same way, he said.
Although many agreed that all of the words are wrong, some terms are less "acceptable." Toward the end of the event, Riney showed a picture of a yellow duck calling a group of black ducks "niggers."
Rebecca Bravel, a graduate education major, said, "When you hear that word, everyone gets uncomfortable. No one said it out loud, but we're comfortable saying 'faggot,' 'bitch,' 'F.O.B.' and 'wetback' out loud. They say the one with the 'a' in the end."
"If my brother calls his girlfriend his bitch, she's like, 'Aww,'" one student said.
Christopher Riney, an adversity advocate intern for the Mosaic Cross Cultural Center and senior public relations major, came up with the idea for the event.
Students were asked to come up with a list about what they felt about the word "bitch." While "animal," "dehumanizing" and "weakness" appeared, others added the likes of "independent."
Some were shocked to find that "bitch" is in the Oxford dictionary, which defines it as "a woman whom one considers to be malicious or unpleasant."
The word "bitch" focuses on that it's bad to be female, said Josie Vasquez, a senior sociology major.
"On a college campus you think people would be more aware," Riney said. "But a lot aren't."
Riney chose to host "Words That Hurt" because people go through their day using words in a certain tone that they think makes it acceptable, he said.
"You hear it all the time in class," Riney said. "Like 'that's so gay,' and they don't know if the person they're talking to is gay. It might keep that person closeted."
"I laughed at (the movie) 'Superbad' all the time," Noelle Cleveland, City Year employee said in reference to the character Seth calling his friend Fogell a "faggle."
"I think the word itself is funny," she said.
Riney said that sometimes adults believe other adults should tolerate the words. But not everyone takes words the same way, he said.
Although many agreed that all of the words are wrong, some terms are less "acceptable." Toward the end of the event, Riney showed a picture of a yellow duck calling a group of black ducks "niggers."
Rebecca Bravel, a graduate education major, said, "When you hear that word, everyone gets uncomfortable. No one said it out loud, but we're comfortable saying 'faggot,' 'bitch,' 'F.O.B.' and 'wetback' out loud. They say the one with the 'a' in the end."
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