The word “hole”

My greatest fear realized

A blogger/artist recently wrote a psuedo-review/academic criticism about the Dyke March in Toronto, taking issue with the fact that participants were carrying individual, crafty vaginas called “holes” while chanting “We’re here. We’re holes. We’re fabulous. Come fuck with us.” She felt the organizer was ignorant about the history of the word “hole” and how it has been used to repress women even today. She provided a link to my post for precarious reasons to illustrate her point.

One of the problems I have with extremely left leaning people is that they have restricted parameters around what people are allowed or not allowed to say, so much that they become conservative in their rigidness. How ironic.

I don’t consider myself a liberal, or a conservative. I’m not going to limit or categorize myself. I’m going to be a free-thinker who makes up his own mind through his experiences. Perhaps some people think that is naive, but I prefer my method, as opposed to the alternative.

What I do know is that for those marching in last month’s Dyke March, the word “hole” had a positive meaning, and because the word might have derived from less than virtuous means, it doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be used because it makes someone uncomfortable. That’s the same as saying “I don’t believe people should be gay because it makes me uncomfortable”. Who cares what you think? If it’s not hurting me, or anyone else, why bother being academic about it?

The author of the post noted that because the participants were unaware of the history of the word that they were in error for using it. I take the opposite argument. I think that for them carrying a “hole” had a positive message, one that has been altered from the original intended use of the word. That’s good.

It bothers me that so-called “liberals” want to regulate what people can say, and what words are appropriate to use. It’s absurd to say that a word should be forbidden because someone might be offended by it. As soon as you open your mouth and express an opinion someone is bound to be offended. What should you do? Not speak? Constantly apologize?

The words “dumb” and “lame” have very negative connotations and histories, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to refrain from using them. Doing so does not make me a bad person, nor anyone else. I’m sensitive to people’s perceptions and feelings, and always willing to hear their arguments, but I’m not in the habit of censoring myself or anyone else.

I’m happy that she’s familiar with the root meaning of the word “hole” but maybe some people aren’t, or they’re attempting to reclaim it. Perhaps she’ll educate them, but the word has a different definition to them as it does to her. And that’s okay. Definitions often change.

We should celebrate diversity, and independent thought if it brings the world closer to harmony. Words don’t always have to be negative, we can change them to fit our personal philosophies.