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Title: Sign Referencing Civil War Hero Is Sexual Harassment, Says Massachusetts Lawmaker
Source:
Reason
URL Source: https://reason.com/blog/2018/03/16/ ... -sign-must-go-says-ma-lawmaker
Published: Mar 17, 2018
Author: Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Post Date: 2018-03-17 11:01:25 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 907
Comments: 15
Here's a twist on the debate over public monuments to problematic figures like Confederate leaders: A Massachusetts state lawmaker wants to censor references to a man who scored Civil War era wins against the Confederacy. Her reasoning? That man's name is Joseph Hooker. As we're all aware, General Hooker's last name became slang for "someone who has sex for money." Today, "hooker" is widely considered a slur by folks in the sex-work community. Yet as far as I'm aware, there have't been any sex worker campaigns to remove references to Joseph Hooker from public view—presumably because most well-adjusted people realize that words have different meanings in different contexts. "There are all sorts of benign words in our language that sound like words unfit for polite company," writes Jon Keller at CBS Boston, offering Uranus and clap as further examples. "And they offer us an opportunity to teach snickering kids about Civil War history or outer space—and about showing respect for others while avoiding making fools of ourselves." State Rep. Michelle DuBois (D-Plymouth) disagrees. She has been calling for the removal of a statehouse sign that reads "General Hooker Entrance" (so inscribed because it stands opposite a statue of General Hooker), which she described as an affront to "women's dignity." "Female staffers don't use that entrance because the sign is offensive to them," DuBois told WBZ-TV this week. If that isn't the ultimate in futile, fainting-couch feminism, I'm not sure what is. DuBois also complained that she had heard teen boys joke with teen girls that they were "general hookers" while using the door. Of course, DuBois is positioning herself as a crusader against sex-based harassment and patriarchy. But attitudes like hers—which treat women as excessively fragile beings, and which posit that female "dignity" is diminished by even so slight an association with sex work as walking under a door that says "hooker"—just props up old-fashioned and patriarchal ideas about sex and gender. Michelle DuBois @RepDuBois #Metoo it’s not all about rape & harassment but also women’s dignity A “funny” double entendres misrepresented as respect for a long dead general? 1 Keep statue 2 Take sign down CORRECTION: A previous version of this post stated that Hooker had famously defeated Confederate General Robert E. Lee in battle, when it's really the other way around. (We should have paid more attention to those Ken Burns documentaries after all.) The opening paragraph has been edited to remove this reference.Rep. Michelle DuBois wants to remove a statehouse sign that reads "General Hooker Entrance" because it is an affront to "women's dignity."
R U a “General Hooker”? Of course not!
Yet the main entrance of the Mass State House says otherwise.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
I guess the special hookers are expected to use a different entrance! My understanding is that the use of the term "hooker" as an alias for prostitute originated with General Hooker, as he was known to have prostitutes travel with his army for troop morale purposes.
Then simply change the sign to read "General Joseph Hooker Entrance". Come on, people.
I know the cheapest hooker in Dayton. His name is Terry and he will tow your car for 40 bucks.
SmOL (Smiling Out Loud)
Those were his words. He is like 75 and a great guy.
That's great!
The question HAS to be asked of her "Is this because you are a discrete hooker,and think you are being discriminated against?" Assuming of course you can find someone that can make her comprehend the meaning of the word "discrete". She's liable to think it's a type of concrete. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Why is it necessary to have a name for the main door of the Masshole legislature to begin with? Just call it "the front door" or "the main entrance" and take that stupid looking sign down.
You sound like State Rep. Michelle DuBois (D-Plymouth). I hope you don't play rugby since an important position on the team is the hooker.
But I do play rugby every day, pretty much in all my free time when I'm not posting at LF. Unfortunately, you're still a total idiot.
I could say the same about "Martin Luther King Drive". Call it East 169th Street or somesuch. "Just call it "the front door" or "the main entrance" and take that stupid looking sign down." And give in to the puerile complaints of those who object? Never! It's time they grew up.
Says the guy claiming there are three time zones in the Lower 48. Moron.
Shouldn’t have to do that... the intolerant sheep need to toughen up their thin skin. A persons right to speech, expression or just hang a sign void of cussing or threats outweighs anyone’s fucking feelings. Weakness (pussification) makes me sick. I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Ricky Gervais has a new video out on Netflix -- "Humanity". Funny. In it, he demonstrates what our society has become by relating the story of a guy walking up to a bulletin board in the public park and seeing an ad for guitar lessons. He rips down the ad, throws it on the ground and screams, "I don't want guitar lessons! Then he calls the guy up and yells at him, "I don't want guitar lessons! Ain't that the truth?
Yankees. Funny little critters.
Liberals are like Slinkys. They're good for nothing, but somehow they bring a smile to your face as you shove them down the stairs.
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
Rep. Michelle DuBois wants to remove a statehouse sign that reads "General Hooker Entrance" because it is an affront to "women's dignity."
#3. To: Pinguinite (#1)
#4. To: A K A Stone (#3)
#5. To: Vicomte13 (#4)
#6. To: A K A Stone (#5)
#7. To: Deckard (#0)
(Edited)
#8. To: misterwhite (#2)
Then simply change the sign to read "General Joseph Hooker Entrance".
#9. To: Tooconservative (#8)
#10. To: Fred Mertz (#9)
I hope you don't play rugby since an important position on the team is the hooker.
#11. To: Tooconservative (#8)
Why is it necessary to have a name for the main door of the Masshole legislature to begin with?
#12. To: Tooconservative (#10)
#13. To: misterwhite (#2)
#14. To: GrandIsland (#13)
#15. To: Deckard (#0)
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