For a few months of the year, I live in blissful ignorance that the word 'bird' is still used as a pet name for women. And then Love Island returns, and to my horror the phrase is consistently flung around by the men in the villa. I know Love Island has it's own unique language; from 'muggy' to 'my type on paper,' but this particular phrase must be retired.
After this weeks' episodes, the internet have rightfully called out the men for repeatedly calling women 'birds.' If we're talking abouticks, this phrase championed by men tops my list. The phrase stems from an old colloquial that men used to refer to their female partner. Today, the label is also used to describe a woman who is ditzy, stupid or useless.
While some consider it as a term of endearment, I view it as outdated and sexist. It's a phrase that is a reminder of the past and harks back to a time when patriarchy went unchallenged. It only reinforces a time when women were infantilized and treated like property.
One viewer wrote, 'Every time I hear women being referred to as 'birds' I physically recoil.' Whilst another commented, '"Bird" needs to be taken out of men's vocabulary with immediate effect.' Will Young, Kai Fagan andHaris Namani have been called out on Twitter as the repeat offenders (and no, Will being a farmer doesn't excuse him from this).
A bird is a small, fragile animal. It chirps, flutters and nests. They definitely do not run businesses or lead nations so why do men keep referring to us as such? What happened to just calling us women?
It's no surprise that a survey revealed 'bird' topped the list of pet names that British women would like banned from everyday use. A survey of more than 2,000 British women showed that almost 60% listed ‘bird’ as their most hated pet name.
Furthermore, last year a UK judge ruled that calling women 'birds' is 'plainly sexist.'The judge concluded that even using the term jokingly is 'foolish' in a landmark discrimination case.The ruling came following a tribunal brought by a Barclays investment banker after her boss repeatedly called women 'birds.' This phrase is not just used within romantic relationships, it's also used by men in professional environments in an attempt to undermine women.
It's also the fact that the word 'bird' is so often possessive. It's all 'his bird' 'my bird' 'your bird'. It's just another way to brand women as belonging to a man. And in Love Island it so often is about taking the agency away from the women too - 'Which bird do you like?' 'What bird you grafting' etc. It's grim.
The fact that men still use this language towards women in 2023 is surprising. Are the men's outdated views of women just a mirror of our society? It's also ironic that the men on Love Island call women 'birds' when they're having 'boy chat,' but rarely say it in front of the women themselves. Remember when Will told Ron he was going to 'take his bird?' The term is clearly just used amongst the men for a bit of an ego boost or to brag and it's not attractive at all.
All in all, calling women 'birds' just has a lot of insulting and sexist connotations and it needs to go. Men just need to stop reffering to women as animals, period.
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