Watching for Passive Voice

Posted on by gracesmuggler

I’d love to share these images from Dr. Devon Price (@drdevonprice on Instagram). I am going to be checking myself when I use using passive language in these kinds of contexts. Text in comments.

Text: switching from passive voice to active voice often reveals the true cause of injustice.
Text: “faculty of color are underrepresented” becomes “the academy excludes people of color.”
Text: passive voice: “There aren’t accessible bathrooms in this store” active voice: “this store does not provide accessible bathrooms”
Text: “there aren’t many women in STEM” becomes “men in STEM harass women and gatekeep their access to the field”
Text: precise, specific language also helps: “she was harmed by his behavior” becomes “he yelled at her until she cried”
Text: — say who did what — use specific language — make the person who did the action the subject of the sentence — use active verbs instead of is/was/are



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