[Linkspam] my letter in the Spring 2009 issue of UU World

[edenfalling]

There was an article about 'rankism' in the last issue of UU World, which had a sentence that made no gramatical sense and could only be interpreted properly by relying on a learned, sexist idea of how the world is organized. I found that very interesting, especially in the context of an article about trying to combat prejudice.

So I wrote to UU World, and they printed a version of my letter!

...

Granted, their printed version publicly displays the thinko that I noticed a day after I sent the email -- "innate" instead of "ingrained" -- which makes me look a bit of an idiot before the world, but still. They printed my letter!

(My original version also contained a rather snide grammar lesson on ways to rewrite the sentence in a gender-neutral fashion, but it's probably for the best that those bits were cut.)

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ETA: Given that there is a privacy discussion going around livejournal (yet another iteration of RaceFail09; you can find some good starting links on metafandom), I should make a few points clear. The letter is written under the outer two of my legal names. I actually have two internet presences, each with their own email address: one for fanfiction and livejournal, and the other for family, business, church, and school. I am okay with linking from my fannish life to my everyday life, but not vice versa. Also, while I am okay with people knowing my outer two names, I ask that you not use them here, because I would like to make it at least minimally tricky for potential future employers to trace that identity back to me-as-Liz and realize what I do with my free time.

Thank you in advance!