As I am world-building in my fantasy I am naming my countries etc. The place my protagonists comes from has been ruled by women for a few generations and it annoys me every time I write Kingdom, so I thought why not Queendom? Or does that just sound stupid? ???
Most of the places where the word kingdom was first developed where extremely patriarchal. It varied from place to place but in many of them women had little to know rights at all. While women could technically inherit a title or even a throne, that was only if there were no sons, brothers, uncles, or male cousins anywhere else on the family tree who were eligible to do it. Even then most, if not all, of the power associated with that title/throne went to her husband as soon as she was married. If your fantasy world is matriarchal to the point that it is the women who inherit before the men, then I would say a queendom makes more sense than a kingdom. Alternatively, if it is set up so the first born/closest relative (regardless of gender) inherits or if your royal line just isn't very good at producing male heirs, I could totally see an enterprising queen making some kind of decree or something that renames her realm. In the first case I think the name would be pretty self-explanatory once the readers realized the world was matriarchal. In the second case I would suggest some sort of explanation about why/when the name came into use to avoid confusion. Depending on how you want the story to go, it could actually make an interesting side plot; how the peasantry/other nobles feel about the renaming or just in general about having a queen instead of a king. Hope I helped give you some ideas!
Just make it a matriarchal society and have it be a Queendom. It'll be different, no doubt, but it's worth toying with. Otherwise "Kingdom" is just a name.
Language, like most things is traditionally sexist in its composition. There is no reason why you couldn't use Queendom other than the fact that it is not a widely recognised term. This could obviously be easily remedied by you, the writer in your MS by explaining the background of the story.
I used the word Queendom in a short story I just did - granted I used it with a bit of a wink in the tone, but there's no saying you can't use the word and make it sound just as strong as Kingdom.
If anyone read of a Queendom in a novel, while it may be an uncommon term, it would surely be instantly recognizable. If it's a queendom, so be it. Makes no sense to say kingdom. From the Free Dictionary:
Sure, I don't dispute that. It is obvious to all but the most dim witted of readers. I was just highlighting the glaringly obvious fact that it is by far, a lesser known or used word. To further strengthen my point, why is it the United Kingdom where I reside, as opposed to the United Queendom, despite the fact that Queen Elizabeth II has been the head of state for an age? Don't mean to be flippant but you get my point, language, undeniably is traditionally sexist.
I point you to my above example. It makes no sense but here we are calling it the United Kingdom when a Queen has been on the throne for the last sixty years. I'm not spoiling for an argument Ginger, just defending my post.
I think the OP mentioned that she was "naming" her lands, so I assume she is debating between Kingdom of Fillintheblank and Queendom of Fillintheblank. Or something along those lines.
First, this is a different part of your post than I replied to before, that of needing to explain the term: Queendom would be uncommonly used but widely recognized. As for your point here, why not call the UK a queendom, it's not an exact analogy. There is currently a Queen of England, but the monarchy is not a queendom. When the current queen dies or abdicates, there will again be a king. The OP is talking about a queendom where I assume it's not whomever is in line to ascend to the thrown, it is the next female in line.
Monarchy? For me, "queendom" would be going out of its way to make a point that this area is ruled by a woman, while realm or monarchy or empire or whatever would make the point that the area is ruled by a ruler and it doesn't matter all that much whether the ruler is a man or a woman. I would tend to lean toward the second, in part because there are plenty of ruler-to-ruled-areas words that aren't sex specific--duke/duchess/duchy, baron/baroness/barony, emperor/empress/empire--so I wouldn't feel a strong need to demonstrate the fact that such areas can exist. But in end, my choice would depend on the specific work.
Right okay, I'm not particularly arsed either way. Feminism is a just and noble cause and one that has my full support. I've alluded to as much in my posts. The monarchy is not a Queendom? I know! That's because it's soaked in thousands of years of male dominated constitution and law. That has been my primary point in this from the start. I admire your feminist sabre rattling, I really do but you're arguing against an irrevocable fact. The OP can call it a Queendom if they please, it does not negate the fact that it is a rarely heard or acknowledged term, currently or ever.
I find it interesting that switching to queendom results in the thought/belief/reaction that one is going out of one's way to promote a cause. Why would it be anything other than normalizing the queendom?
Do you think wanting gay marriage to be legal is shoving homosexuality in homophobes' faces? I assume not. @ChickenFreak said: You said: Aka avoid the issue. @outsider said: The OP is writing a fictional story, a fictional world. Why is using the term 'queendom' soaked in all this baggage? I wouldn't blink twice if I saw the word queendom in a novel or story. But even if I did, until people treat the term as normal, i.e. no big deal, how do you get from here to there? How does gender equal or gender neutral language become the norm unless people use it? I have more at stake than you do, so that's fine it's of little interest to you.
And there we have it, feminism is of course, your underlying, vested interest in this 'problem'. That's fine, more power to you. Just don't say you find it 'interesting. . . that one is going out of one's way to promote a cause' when that is in fact, what you're doing.
Yes! The OP, apparently, had an issue with it, so I offered a suggestion that would eliminate the issue. Is that a problem? Oh, I see now. You meant "normalize the term 'queendom'", not "normalize the queendom itself." I wasn't sure how referring to the realm as a queendom would in any way "normalize" it.
