On HBO Max’s Sex Lives of College Girls, co-written by Mindy Kaling, the principal characters at mythical Essex College cheerfully identify themselves as “super sex positive.” A Black girl abruptly informs her white coach “I want to f*ck you so bad,” while another confides that her expertise at “hand jobs” has advanced her success at the campus literary magazine. Noting that it even has “crept into White House press releases,” The Economist pointed out that only 4% of American Hispanics say they prefer the word, suggesting it might in fact reflect “social mobilization.”Īpart from disputes about words, denizens of the writers rooms also are struggling to redefine their characters in line with cultural change. The term “Latinx” also has stirred erudite opposition. That newspaper even started a monthly op-ed column titled “Race Manners,” offering advice to “help resolve personal dilemmas involving race and identity.” After publishing its initial entry, titled “Which Black People Should I Listen To?”, the newspaper retreated from that idea, concluding, “If you actually have a framework for deciding what’s right and wrong, use it.”Īccordingly, John McWhorter, a professor at Columbia University, argues that “perhaps Black English will yield a new neutral term for wokeness.” The meaning of “woke,” he suggests, has been lost, similar to “politically correct,” which drifted into confused derision. “These adjustments would help define what it means to be an educated white person,” suggests Anne Charity Hudley, a linguistics professor at Stanford, in The New York Times. The nuances of race have been enhanced by those advocating that “complicit bias” should replace “implicit” or that “systemic” must be an adjunct of “racism. Once a pejorative, the word “queer” now is embraced as affirming, though the older constituency is marginally resistant. The lexicons of race and sex entail their own issues. The “I” for intersex is applauded as an adjunct to LGBTQ, but I admit to struggling with the mandated “+,” supposedly adding the aura of comprehensiveness.
The acronym BIPOC now is embraced by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, referencing indigenous people of color. Every change in the lexicon represents an emotional victory for its constituency. I realize that critics may accuse me of semantic bleaching or, like James Carville, might even denounce “stupid wokeness,” but I believe a case should be made for keeping the peace.
Peter Bart: Critics Heap Honors On ‘70s Movies, Celebrating Moment When Filmmakers Were Hot & Studios Were Brokeįurther, my new vocabulary pays homage to “Latinx,” and will never again refer to Squaw Peak or Squaw Valley.
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