【Peggy Markoff】

Two words: #MeToo. That's what it took to turn the world's attention to the magnitude of sexual harassment and Peggy Markoffassault. Now that we're finallytalking about it, it's high time we thought about the language we use to talk about sexual assault.

A quote about the gendered language we use discuss rape and assault has gone viral, prompting thousands to question the way they think and talk about survivors of sexual violence.

The quote—which comes from a TED Talk by Jackson Katz—is proving deeply resonant on social media, garnering over 70K retweets and 131K likes on Twitter. The quote comes from a 2013 TED Talk entitled "Violence against women—it's a men's issue," in which Katz states that harassment and violence against women are "intrinsically men's issues."

"We talk about how many women were raped last year, not about how many men raped women. We talk about how many girls in a school district were harassed last year, not about how many boys harassed girls," the quote begins.

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"So you can see how the use of the passive voice has a political effect. [It] shifts the focus off of men and boys and onto women," Katz continues.

Katz adds that the term "violence against women" is problematic as it's a "passive construction" and there's no "active agent in the sentence."

"It's a bad thing that happens to women, but when you look at that term 'violence against women,' nobody is doing it to them. It just happens to them...Men aren't even a part of it."

Hear, hear!

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