Alphabetical Entries: R

women are rabbis in the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist branches of Judaism, and they are addressed "rabbi." There are no women rabbis in the Orthodox branch.

the use of this word "to refer to a group of persons who share common physical characteristics and form a discrete and separable population unit has no scientific validity, since evolutionary theory and physical anthropology have long since demonstrated that there are no fixed or discrete groups in human populations.... However as a folk concept in Western and non-Western societies the concept of race is a powerful and important one, which is employed in order to classify and systematically exclude members of given groups from fully participating in the social system controlled by the dominant group" (Macmillan Dictionary of Anthropology). "There are no pure races in any meaningful sense, only large geographical groupings whose genetic histories can never be fully known.... The terminology of race has shifted in recent years from anthropological classifications toward a more flexible language of geography, culture, and color" (American Heritage Book of English Usage). Amoja Three Rivers (Cultural Etiquette) says, "If there ever was any such thing as race (which there isn't), there has been so much constant cross-crossing of genes for the last 500,000 years, that it would have lost all meaning." Clyde W. Ford (We Can All Get Along) suggests discarding "this outmoded term" and replacing it "with another term like ethnic group, ethnicity, cultural background, nationality, or human variation when speaking about differences among human beings. The term race is loaded with a history of fiction, conflict, violence, and racism." In The Concept of Race, anthropologist Ashley Montagu says, "The idea of 'race' as a widespread secular belief is, in fact, no older than the 19th century.... In part because of that phrase, 'All men are created equal,' and, of course, because of all those other conditions that bound them to support the institution, the defenders of slavery felt it necessary to show that the Negro was biologically unequal to the white man, both in his physical traits and in his mental capacities.... it was in this way that the doctrine of racism was born." As long ago as 1936, biologist Julian Huxley and anthropologist Alfred Cort Haddon found the biological concept of race wanting: "It is very desirable that the term race as applied to human groups should be dropped from the vocabulary of science" (We Europeans: A Survey of 'Racial' Problems). Although the term "racism" is necessary to a discussion of these issues and to denote the entrenched bias that the false concept of race has underwritten, the word "race" itself is best avoided as being devoid of meaning in itself. See also interracial, multiracial, racism, ethnicity.

to say someone is injecting race into a discussion may be an attempt to diminish or discredit the effects of racism. Black feminist scholar bell hooks writes that the expression “trivializes discussions of racism, implying it’s all just a game.” She says this backlash against talk about race “more often than not represent[s] it as mere hysteria.”

the National Association of Black Journalists advises against using "racial preference," and recommends more accurate and neutral terms: race-based remedies, affirmative action program, policies designed to benefit women and racial minorities.

the assignment of a racial meaning to a previously racially neutral event (Patricia Hill Collins, Fighting Words).

any attitude, action, social policy, or institutional structure that discriminates against a person or a group because of their color constitutes racism. More specifically, racism is the subordination of people of color by white people. "While an individual person of color may discriminate against white people or even hate them, his or her behavior or attitude cannot be called 'racist.' He or she may be considered prejudiced against whites and we may all agree that the person acts unfairly and unjustly, but racism requires something more than anger, hatred, or prejudice; at the very least, it requires prejudice plus power. The history of the world provides us with a long record of white people holding power and using it to maintain that power and privilege over people of color, not the reverse" (Paula S. Rothenberg, Racism and Sexism). "Racism is not just the sum total of all the individual acts in which white people discriminate, harass, stereotype or otherwise mistreat people of color. The accumulated effects of centuries of white racism have given it an institutional nature which is more entrenched than racial prejudice. In fact, it is barely touched by changes in individual white consciousness. We often find it difficult to see or to know how to challenge institutional racism because we are so used to focusing on individual actions and attitudes" (Paul Kivel, Uprooting Racism). Patricia Hill Collins (Fighting Words) defines institutionalized racism as the "combination of practices whereby Blacks and other people of color as a group or class receive differential treatment within schools, housing, employment, healthcare, and other social institutions. Unlike bias and prejudice, which are characteristics of individuals, institutionalized racism operates through the everyday rules and customs of social institutions." Zora Neale Hurston (Dust Tracks on a Road) wrote, "Light came to me when I realized that I did not have to consider any racial group as a whole. God made them duck by duck and that was the only way I could see them." Seeing people duck by duck may be a start to dismantling stereotypes. (BTW, white folks don't get to define what racism is and isn't.) See also African American, antiracist, Black/black (n)., code words, color blindness, nonracist, race.

functionally sexist; although women may be involved in racketeering, there are not many of them and they are rarely called racketeers. See also bad guy.

this French word is grammatically masculine (and its partner, raconteuse, evidently stayed in France) but is used in English for both sexes. If you want a more inclusive-sounding alternative, consider storyteller, anecdotist, teller of tales, taleteller, spinner of yarns, romancer, monologist, narrator.

radio technician/operator/repairer/engineer.

this slur is used against Arabs, Indian Sikhs, and other peoples, denigrating them for wearing traditional headdress such as turbans or keffiyehs.

ragpicker, rag collector, junk dealer/collector.

see renegades.

there is nothing wrong with this phrase but be aware of how many such expressions are male-based. Balance their use with female-based expressions, creative expressions of your own, or sex-neutral alternatives: make mischief/a fuss, carry on, lose one's temper, fly off the handle, flare up, run amok, raise a rumpus/a storm/a hue and cry/the devil/hell, castigate, lecture, rail, fulminate, find fault; be boisterous/loud/rowdy/disorderly, disturb the peace. See also sex-linked expressions.

always a man; his wife is a rani.

because this term is used only for men and there is no true parallel for women, consider libertine, swinger, bedhopper, free spirit, high-roller, dissolute person. See also ladies' man, man about town, womanizer.

Happy Ramadan or "Happy New Year and Happy Ramadan" are appropriate greetings during the month of Ramadan (considered the most blessed and venerated month of the Islamic year when prayer, fasting, and charity are accompanied by reflections on self-accountability).

this adjective has no connection with a male name (it most likely comes from "to rant").

when writing about rape, you may first need to research current statistics as well as the definition and language used in your area (each state has its own laws, and there's no uniform legal definition at the state level; in addition, instead of the term "rape" many states call it sexual assault, criminal sexual conduct, sexual abuse, sexual battery, etc.). Cautions: (1) Be aware of and avoid myths about rape, e.g., that no one can be raped against their will, that women invite rape by their behavior or clothing, that only women are raped, that black men rape white women when it is more often the other way around, etc. (2) Use your words to put responsibility where it belongs by avoiding the passive voice ("she was raped," "women are raped") when the active voice is needed ("he raped her," "men rape women"). (3) Avoid using rape as a metaphor (e.g., "gate rape" is the targeting of flight crew members by TSA); it detracts from the true horror and the long-lasting damage of rape. See also acquaintance rape, provoke, rape culture, rape victim, rapist, sexual harassment, she asked for it, victim, violence.

an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture, rape culture is "perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women's bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women's rights and safety. ... Most women and girls limit their behavior because of the existence of rape. Most women and girls live in fear of rape. Men, in general, do not. That's how rape functions as powerful means by which the whole female population is held in a subordinate position to the whole male population, even though many men don't rape, and many women are never victims of rape" (Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me, 2014). See also acquaintance rape, rape, rapist, sexual harassment, she asked for it, victim, violence.

avoid using "victim" in speaking and writing about rape unless the person was killed too; "survivor" is often preferred. Tami Spry (Women and Language) says that "the agency of a woman as meaning maker of her own experience is denied in having to choose between the categories of victim or survivor. The pain and confusion following the assault is further complicated by having to structure and make sense of her experience within the assailant's language.... How can one tell a story of sexual violence from a woman's bodily narrative point of view? ... The language of victor or survivor defines the meaning of the assault in relation to his action rather than her experience; she survived it or was a victim of it.... the narrative focus, the primary experiential focus is on the male perpetrator, what he did and why he did it." The most important caution in writing or speaking of those who have been raped is to avoid indirectly blaming them. "We all want injustice to be the victim's fault" (Hortense Calisher). We like to think that most sexual assaults are provoked by, or preventable by, the victim, when in fact 60% to 70% of all rapes are planned in advance; nothing the victim does or doesn't do can avert it. Publicly identifying those who have been raped is debatable. Use someone's name only with permission as there are good reasons not to further expose the person at such a vulnerable time. Then again, not using a name seems to imply that there is something shameful about having been raped, when in fact there was something criminal about it. Suzette Haden Elgin (The Lonesome Node) says the ugly truth about not publicizing the name of those who have been raped "is because most of our society looks upon them as damaged goods." Although nearly all reported rape victims are women, men are raped, particularly in prisons where rape is a common way of maintaining an inmate power structure; do not exclude men from discussions of rape or assume that victim and violator are of different sexes. See also date rape, rape, rapist, she asked for it, victim, violence.

this unproven and harmful concept comes from a flawed study that’s been heavily criticized by academics and scientists. No evidence supports it as a real phenomenon at this time, and reporting otherwise is irresponsible. Gender dysphoria is discomfort or distress caused by one’s assigned sex and the desire to change the associated characteristics.

why isn't it called a raper? asks Naomi Lifejoy (St. Paul's Pioneer Press). "It seems that some words that describe what people do have an 'ist' at the end, and they command a certain degree of respectability, such as scientist, archeologist, biologist, balloonist. Rapist sounds like too soft a word to me. We say robber, not robbist; killer, not killist; abuser, not abusist. Why then do we not say raper, rather than rapist?" A comparison of prestigious "-ist" words (dentist, scientist, therapist, geneticist, ophthalmologist, gynecologist, metallurgist) with criminal "-er" words (murderer, slayer, poisoner, strangler, sniper, knifer, slaughterer, destroyer, bloodshedder, shoplifter, mugger, stalker) supports Lifejoy's point. See also man-hater/woman-hater, rape, rape victim, violence.

not all Jamaicans are Rastafarians; not all Rastafarians are Jamaicans; not all people with dreadlocks are Rastafarians. Use only for those who self-identify this way.

biological mother/father/parent, birth father/mother/parent. Describing birth or biological parents as "real" implies that adoptive relationships are artificial, tentative, less important, and less enduring. See also adoption language, biological father/mother/parent, birth mother/father/parent.

this is used of men, women, and objects, even though the original was a man. According to Why Do We Say It?, a prize fighter by the name of McCoy was being annoyed by a drunk whose friends tried to tell him that this was the great McCoy. McCoy eventually fought the man who, when he came to, said, "You're right. He's the real McCoy."