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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1326

Part of Session 182: Gender ideologies in public discourses (Other abstracts in this session)

The language of victims and rapists: Embracing verbal taboo to reappropriate victimless slang

Authors: Zubair, Cala
Submitted by: Zubair, Cala (University of North Carolina at Wilmington, United States of America)

To join the Sinhalese Raggers at the University of Peradeniya (Kandy, Sri Lanka), students undergo mixed-gender, ritual hazing (“ragging”) such that senior males rag junior females via forced sexual acts (e.g., rape and sexual assault). Male Raggers use esoteric, in-group terminology that masks their behavior from university authorities and wider public scrutiny (Buddhadhasa 2007; Fonsenka 2009; Hennayake 2009). This work explores how female Raggers resist physical violence by resisting esoteric slang.  Instead, they embrace alternate forms of taboo language that are less localized, exhibit online circulation, and are more widespread in universities and among youth (Dissanayake 1998; Agarwal 2006). This non-localized, sexual slang condemns males’ sexual behavior, framing male-to-female ragging as abusive rather than victimless, and contesting media discourses about ragging that minimize female trauma (Rubero 2003; Chopra 2010; Fernando 2010). Considering taboo language key in empowering marginalized social groups (Thurlow 2011), this project examines how different forms of taboo language exhibit variable public/private, local/non-local circulation based on their functional distinctions (Agha 2007; Fleming & Lempert 2011; Irvine 2011). Male slang is covert and exclusive because it functions to hide their behavior. Female slang is widely recognizable because it functions to reveal hidden sexual assaults.

Data for this study includes females’ conversational use of sexual slang, interview (meta)commentaries, narratives of sexual assault, and online discussion boards. Terms analyzed include nanaawa (common meaning: “to shower”) and anga hodanawa (common meaning: “body wash”), words males use to refer to vaginal and anal rape; baduwak polimak hukanawa, “(gang) rape-fucking a girl vaginally” - the female slang equivalent of nanaawa; and paiyak/ kariyak polimak,  female Ragger terms translatable as “penis/sperm raper”. With semantic juncture between male usages of nanaawa and anga hodanawa (“vaginal rape” and “anal rape”) and common meanings (“shower” and “body wash”), males are protected from public reprimand even in public spheres. Female innovation includes substituting taboo terms like baduwak polimak hukanawa (“(gang) rape-fucking a girl vaginally”) during campus and online interactions. Though inclusive of proscribed words, when spoken before university authorities or posted online, the female term exposes acts of vaginal rape.  Female terms additionally focus attention on males as sexual offenders. Words such as paiyak/ kariyak polimak, “penis/sperm raper”, point to the male anatomical subject as actor.

While females have little say in rituals of rape (if joining the Sinhalese Raggers), performatively, they reappropriate their bodies through language. Demarcating victim and rapist, females’ sexual slang indicates how proscribed speech grants voice to voiceless subjects.  As with other studies on youth language (Eble 1996; Miller 2004; Chun 2009; Roth Gordon 2007a, 2007b; Mendoza-Denton 2008), linguistic creativity is key in how speakers publically fashion roles and identities, where mentioned and unmentionable are mutually telling (Frekko 2011).