full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kavita Ramdas: Radical women, embracing tradition

Unscramble the Blue Letters

So to paraphrase Marx: Women make change, but not in circumstances of their own cosihong. They have to negotiate. They have to svbreut tradition that once silenced them in order to give voice to new aspirations. And they need allies from their cioemitumns. Allies like the imam, allies like the father who now wtiers songs for a lesbian group in Croatia, allies like the policeman who honored a taboo and backed away, allies like my father, who couldn't help his sister but has helped three daughters pursue their dreams. Maybe this is because feminism, unlike almost every other social movement, is not a struggle against a dcnsitit oppressor — it's not the runlig csals or the occupiers or the czeinoorls — it's against a deeply held set of beliefs and assumptions that we women, far too often, hold ourselves.

Open Cloze

So to paraphrase Marx: Women make change, but not in circumstances of their own ________. They have to negotiate. They have to _______ tradition that once silenced them in order to give voice to new aspirations. And they need allies from their ___________. Allies like the imam, allies like the father who now ______ songs for a lesbian group in Croatia, allies like the policeman who honored a taboo and backed away, allies like my father, who couldn't help his sister but has helped three daughters pursue their dreams. Maybe this is because feminism, unlike almost every other social movement, is not a struggle against a ________ oppressor — it's not the ______ _____ or the occupiers or the __________ — it's against a deeply held set of beliefs and assumptions that we women, far too often, hold ourselves.

Solution

  1. distinct
  2. subvert
  3. ruling
  4. class
  5. writes
  6. choosing
  7. communities
  8. colonizers

Original Text

So to paraphrase Marx: Women make change, but not in circumstances of their own choosing. They have to negotiate. They have to subvert tradition that once silenced them in order to give voice to new aspirations. And they need allies from their communities. Allies like the imam, allies like the father who now writes songs for a lesbian group in Croatia, allies like the policeman who honored a taboo and backed away, allies like my father, who couldn't help his sister but has helped three daughters pursue their dreams. Maybe this is because feminism, unlike almost every other social movement, is not a struggle against a distinct oppressor — it's not the ruling class or the occupiers or the colonizers — it's against a deeply held set of beliefs and assumptions that we women, far too often, hold ourselves.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
peace talks 3
traditional music 2
writes songs 2
small group 2
peace accord 2

Important Words

  1. allies
  2. aspirations
  3. assumptions
  4. backed
  5. beliefs
  6. change
  7. choosing
  8. circumstances
  9. class
  10. colonizers
  11. communities
  12. croatia
  13. daughters
  14. deeply
  15. distinct
  16. dreams
  17. father
  18. feminism
  19. give
  20. group
  21. held
  22. helped
  23. hold
  24. honored
  25. imam
  26. lesbian
  27. movement
  28. negotiate
  29. occupiers
  30. oppressor
  31. order
  32. paraphrase
  33. policeman
  34. pursue
  35. ruling
  36. set
  37. silenced
  38. sister
  39. social
  40. songs
  41. struggle
  42. subvert
  43. taboo
  44. tradition
  45. voice
  46. women
  47. writes