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There’s been a recurring theme on the show over the years, of filling gaps in language, removing stigma and bias, finding better ways to express ourselves and talk about our feelings and our bodies. Today Kalle Rocklinger, sex educator with RFSU, the National Association for Sexuality Education in Sweden, talks about how and why over the years, the RFSU has come up with and publicised new terms for body parts and sexual acts, and what they would still like to change.
This is the first part of the Telling Other Stories series, about renaming things.
Content note: this episode contains discussions of sex and the associated body parts. Towards the end, there’s discussion of consent which includes references to rape (there are no descriptions of acts or anybody’s experiences). I mention when we’re about to arrive at that part of the conversation, so anybody who needs to duck out during that section has some warning.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
A brief history of British sex education: “In the early decades of the 20th century, much public sex education was left to the pamphlets and films of associations such as the National Council for Combating Venereal Diseases, which, cheerily, shared a building and some staff with the Eugenics Education Society.”
“Since 1980, sex education lessons [in Britain] have continued to cause controversy. In the 1980s, there were debates between the left and the right with the Conservatives arguing that sex education was corrupting children.”
The full Snoppen och Snippan song…
…the English language version…
and the dance remix.
I found this paper about ‘snippa’ interesting: “the analysis of the word snippa has shown, on a symbolic level, the same heteronormative system is still in play. But we cannot deny that the introduction of a neutral, colloquial word on par with the male snopp at least has made the female visible in linguistic terms.”
About all those tapestries depicting virgins as unicorn-bait.
Otherlusionists: we talk about the inadequacy of the English vocabulary for sex and bodies in Under the Covers part 2; and in Joins, trans listeners share their particular problems with the available lexicon. In Today, Tomorrow part 2 we explore Icelandic efforts to add genderfree language and provide alternatives to stigmatising terms for homosexuality; and in Many Ways at Once, Harry Josie Giles coins more queer words in Scots.
It’s the show’s eighth birthday tomorrow, and to celebrate we’re having a livestream and you’re all invited! There’ll be dictionary readings, live Tranquillusionist with musical accompaniment from house orchestra Martin Austwick, chitchat and who knows what else?
Join us 14 January 10-11pm UK time (check your timezone here) at youtube.com/allusionistshow.
Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and not only are you supporting independent podcast, you get fortnightly patron-exclusive video livestreams and a Discord community full of language chat, recommendations for food and books, craft-sharing, AND over the next few weeks we’re watching the current season of Great Pottery Throwdown together, the most wholesome show on television!
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
dittography, noun: unintentional repetition of words or letters by a scribe or printer in copying a manuscript.
CREDITS:
Kalle Rocklinger is a sex educator with RFSU, the National Association for Sexuality Education in Sweden. Find out more about their work at rfsu.se.
Huge thanks to Kalle’s colleague Helen Jones for telling me about the RFSU’s language work and for setting up the interview with Kalle.
And also many thanks to Rosalie for taking the picture of the episode title when I couldn’t find my Boggle sets!
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.
