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Wordslut
- A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
- Narrated by: Amanda Montell
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
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Wordslut
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Summary
A brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist look at gendered language and the way it shapes us, written with humor and playfulness that challenges words and phrases and how we use them.
“I get so jazzed about the future of feminism knowing that Amanda Montell’s brilliance is rising up and about to explode worldwide.” (Jill Soloway)
The word bitch conjures many images for many people, but it is most often meant to describe an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean a female canine, bitch didn’t refer to gender at all - it originated as a gender-neutral word meaning genitalia. A perfectly innocuous word devolving into a female insult is the case for tons more terms, including hussy - which simply meant housewife - or slut, which meant an untidy person and was also used to describe men. These words are just a few among history’s many English slurs hurled at women.
Amanda Montell, reporter and feminist linguist, deconstructs language - from insults and cursing, gossip, and catcalling to grammar and pronunciation patterns - to reveal the ways it has been used for centuries to keep women and other marginalized genders from power.
Ever wonder why so many people are annoyed when women talk with vocal fry or use the word like as a filler? Or why certain gender-neutral terms stick and others don’t? Or where stereotypes of how women and men speak come from in the first place?
Montell effortlessly moves between history, science, and popular culture to explore these questions and more - and how we can use the answers to effect real social change. Montell’s irresistible humor shines through, making linguistics not only approachable, but both downright hilarious and profound, demonstrated in chapters such as:
- "Slutty Skanks and Nasty Dykes: A Comprehensive List of Gendered Insults"
- "How to Embarrass the Shit out of People Who Try to Correct Your Grammar"
- "F--k it: An Ode to Cursing While Female"
- "Cyclops, Panty Puppet, Bald Headed Bastard and 100+ Other Things to Call Your Genitalia"
Montell effortlessly moves between history and popular culture to explore these questions and more. Wordslut gets to the heart of our language, marvels at its elasticity, and sheds much-needed light into the biases that shadow women in our culture and our consciousness.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Wordslut
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- Lian
- 28-03-24
Brilliant! A must read (listen)!
Well researched and well explained.
A fascinating insight into not just the etymology of words but how and why they're used socially and culturally.
I am so happy that it was read by the author too to really present her thoughts her pacing tone and enthusiasm level kept me interested throughout.
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- Emily Watson
- 04-04-24
Fascinatingly addresses phenomena women intuitively know but haven’t had the data to prove
Such an interesting book that really affirmed a lot of my personal experiences of language and the ways in which my use of it has been policed. It was not only affirming but incredibly interesting to learn about the sociolinguistics and history behind said language. And Amanda’s delivery was very engaging too. I binged the whole thing in two days!
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- MuttleyThatGoon.
- 22-03-22
This is a must, simple as that!
This is an outstanding and wonderfully informative book. Wordslut is simply amazing and extremely enjoyable to listen to, Amanda Montell covers a large collection of topics and subject matter.
This is a must read/listen for any feminist! Wordslut is up there with Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates, Men Explain Things To Me And Other Essays by Rebecca Solnit and The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.
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- Amazon Customer
- 20-07-19
awesome, informative , fun(ny) , great !
I loved it, missed my bus stop twice while listening to it ! when I listen to feminist books , I get angry and also motivated to read (and do) more. I stopped listening a few times to Google some terms and names n add things to my to read(Or to listen) list . I really enjoyed it !
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- Charlotte Coleman
- 03-05-22
Fascinating
Engaging, fascinating and entertaining in equal measures, A really good listen that I will probably return to.
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- Cliente de Kindle
- 06-06-23
A must read
Factual yet entertaining. I have learned a lot about linguistics and become more aware about the way I use language myself.
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- Patrick
- 23-03-24
Brilliantly popularises language and gender.
Among many many other wonderful take aways she reminded me of Elgin's "Native Tongue". Recommended to all genders.
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- Ms C B-K
- 24-12-20
Mind blowing 😉
WowZa. I really loved this book and can’t wait to share some of the things that I haven’t learnt.
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- Roy Skaardal Bjørnstøl
- 24-12-23
creme de la creme
This is peaked non fiction, audiobook performance amazing, structure and information well reached and written
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- India
- 11-06-23
Brilliant & listening is the way!
Such a great and thoughtful book. I was thinking of buying the physical book for friends but realised that the audio delivery really helped with dealing with the nuances of speech! So I guess I’ll have to give them the audio version instead. Amanda’s delivery was fab 🙌
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