Cocksucker Thesis

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Cocksucker. I never thought I would start a paper with the word cocksucker, even typing it feels wrong, and hearing a class of women saying such a vulgar word was even stranger. Cocksucker (ok now I am enjoying writing it, I admit) is just one of the curse words we yelled out in our lecture with Dr. Leslie Layne, discussing gender and language. The word cocksucker stuck out to me because, although in a way amusing, I could not help but have myself be pulled back to the last time I heard this word used. He said it with an upturned twist in his smile almost taunting the other boy he was wrapped around to challenge it publicly, so he could push further. My friend Robbie had been out before he entered a relationship with his boyfriend Chris. In…show more content…
My classes are mostly, if not consistently, all male aside for me and one other student. Yet, I am the third-ranking student in The Student Investment Fund where I oversee twenty-three students, only two of whom are women like myself. To put that number into perspective we have four members named Zach in the Fund. Finance is always top of the list for white-collar career fields with the most cases of sexual harassment and it is assumed that this hyper-aggressive, high-stress field is a man's world. I have adapted my language to suit my environment. I curse a lot, even in class, and speak out more than my peers purposely. I try to never say sorry and am unapologetic in correcting others. While this behavior of taking on seemingly masculine traits is something that has had me labeled as bossy or opinionated, adapting like this has helped me succeed in a major I love. In class, we studied how language is gendered and going beyond norms can be a disadvantage but depending on the situation and social climate I have seen how we can use these stereotypical words to help people such as myself and Robbie adapt to the world around us. Even when we are acutely aware of the struggles our gender and sexuality can often cause the "gendered" words can cause even more damage.

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