Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women’s Words

So many of the words that we use to chronicle womens lives feel awkward or alien. Medical terms are scrupulously accurate but antiseptic. Slang and obscenities have shock value, yet they perpetuate taboos. Where are the plain, honest words for womens daily lives?

Mother Tongueis a historical investigation of feminist language and thought, from the dawn of Old English to the present day. Dr. Jenni Nuttall guides readers through the evolution of words that we have used to describe female bodies, menstruation, womens sexuality, the consequences of male violence, childbirth, womens paid and unpaid work, and gender. Along the way, she challenges our modern languages ability to insightfully articulate womens shared experiences by examining the long-forgotten words once used in English for female sexual and reproductive organs. Nuttall also tells the story of words likewombandbreast, whose meanings have changed over time, as well as how anatomical words such ashysteriaandhystericalcame to have such loaded legacies.

Inspired by todays heated debates about words likewomxnandmenstruatorsand by more personal conversations with her teenage daughterNuttall describes the profound transformations of the English language. In the process, she unearths some surprisingly progressive thinking that challenges our assumptions about the pastand, in some cases, puts our twenty-first-century society to shame.Mother Tongueis a rich, provocative book for anyone who loves languageand for feminists who want to look to the past in order to move forward.

Hardcover, Aug 29th 2023