All-- It's objectifying lingo similar to medical lingo (patient felt,
teminal case felt). In Sp. Ed. paperwork which I've read, in my case it
was always father felt, parent felt (my mother due to linguistic issues was
never involved in my public life in certain ways). I was always child this,
child that, never Johnson this, Johnson that. Of course, it's
objectifying, but I've always brushed it off as doctors adhering to rules
of dictation regarding files, secretaries, what-not. I was never bothered
by it so much in paperwork; only when they refered to me as that in face to
face meetings or within earshot. William Hurt's film The Doctor has
interesting scenes regarding this phenom.
--Johnson
>Hi all,
>
>Janet, what follows is of no offence intended, but I have to use your
>post to comment on the tendency of so many professionals to use the M-
>word:
>
>On 1 Aug 99, at 14:04, Janet Iles wrote:
>
>> I tended to be more of an observer. . . who could remind **mother** later
>> of what sort of things had been positive (she often finds it difficult to see
>> these. . . . I also attended his annual review with **mother,**. . . .
>> **Mother** felt. . . .
>
>I dunno what it is about this that sends my spine into an imitation
>of an electric eel--whether it is the incongruent 'familiarity' of
>some expert calling me his mother... or whether to speak of moms in
>this way seems to objectify us (try replacing 'mother' with the
>object-term 'patient')--
>But I dearly wish doctors and therapists would refer to us by name,
>or at least put a little T-H-E in front of our tag.
>
>Anyone else feel this way?
>
>Mum
>
>
>Dona M. Avery
>Arizona State University
>Tempe, AZ 85287-0302
>www.public.asu.edu/~donam
Johnson Cheu
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