Over at Guernica, Rebecca Solnit writes about how coining new terms can create solidarity by giving a name to shared experiences. This, she says, is vital to feminism, particularly in the wake of the recent Isla Vista massacre:
Language is power. When you turn “torture” into “enhanced interrogation,” or murdered children into “collateral damage,” you break the power of language to convey meaning, to make us see, feel, and care. But it works both ways. You can use the power of words to bury meaning or to excavate it…This may be particularly true of feminism, a movement focused on giving voice to the voiceless and power to the powerless.
