Dear Margaret Wente,
In your column today, you wrote about the sexual habits of American teens. I'm not entirely sure why you decided to write about this because I'm afraid I don't see what it achieves, but, at any rate, one item jumped out at me.
You cited the study in question as mentioning the "oral sex" participation rate, which is how it's described in the study itself. However, you go on in your article to use the terms "oral sex" and "fellatio" interchangeably.
The fact that you are using these terms interchangeably could lead the reader to believe that you believe they are, in fact, interchangeable. This is not the case.
Fellatio is but one act that falls under the category of oral sex. There are several others, some of which, if I may be so bold, are vastly more enjoyable than fellatio.
It is not my intention to make any implications about your private life, which, I realize, is none of my business. However, I would be remiss if I let this go uncorrected. The misconception that oral sex is limited to fellatio is not only an embarrassing terminological error for an experienced journalist to make, but also a damn shame of a misconception under which to live one's life.
I hope this information prove useful to you.
5 comments:
The misconception that oral sex is limited to fellatio is not only an embarrassing terminological error for an experienced journalist to make...
I don't think it was an error, more likely just journalistic shorthand. The terms are considered interchangeable at dictionary.com, (see the 'oral sex' entry), among other sources.
She's writing a newspaper column--and so probably up against a word or space limit--not compiling an exhaustive list of acts that might be filed under the heading (I didn't plan that pun, seriously, it just happened) of oral sex.
Just because they're used interchangeably by some doesn't make it correct. People use "memory" to mean "hard disk space", but that doesn't make them the same thing. Besides "oral sex" takes up the same amount of space, typographically, as "fellatio." And it's not like this is French where using the same word twice in an article is frowned upon.
And it's not like this is French where using the same word twice in an article is frowned upon.
I think you may have hit on another reason for the usage.
It's common in news articles to substitute a different word rather than to use the same term repeatedly, especially within one sentence or paragraph.
In this case, the terms might not be perfect synonyms, but they're close enough. Kind of like the difference between "memory" and "hard disk space." Hard disk is technically memory. Fellatio is technically oral sex. I agree there is a distinction, but it's mostly just semantics and not a big deal.
Perhaps it's a difference between our professions, but in my line of work it's a serious error. If I had made that substitution and the text in question happened to go through a random quality control assessment, it would go on my record that I had Used The Wrong Word. In fact, even if the original text had used the French word for "fellatio" in a context where "oral sex" is more technically correct, that would still be Wrong Word. (Although I don't know why I'd be translating on that topic, unless it was HIV/AIDS epidemology, but then it would be "insertive oral-genital contact".) It would also lead to the mutually embarrassing situation of my team leader having to explain to me the difference between the two terms.
If I confused memory and disk space, I'd have to suffer all the same consequences, plus a lecture on the difference between the two from any of the geeks in my life who happened to find out
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