Dyke

Dyke or justice’s meaning changes, in the mythic world justice comes from the Gods, later in the 5^th century it must be imposed by the law. This shift coincides with the change in Arete from natural virtue to Protagoras justice as arête. “The procedure of which dikê is a symbol is conducted by oral exchange” as practiced in a preliterate society. The king’s judgment is pronounced orally and thus his position before the people is one of a speaker before an audience.”[1]

Dyke translated from Protagoras is related to a sense of justice when relating to others, this concept is closely related to aidos, the shame man feels for not living up to their society[2]. In Protagerus’s myth of the origin of the Polis, Zues sends Hermes to bring people the knowledge of the city which is Justice and Respect.[3] Justice is given as a gift from the gods, something in which all society can share. Aristotle and Plato view justice as originating with the state, the focus on rhetoric as a techne works to stop uncertainty. Protagoras writes of the similarity between a writing teacher and a city anyone who goes outside the rules or law is punished, and “punishment of this kind, in Athens and everywhere else, is straightening, since justice makes straight. [4]

Dyke today is a derogatory term to refer to lesbians. This usage pops up in the late 18^th century, and it often appears as bulldyke. Krantz investigates bull’s origin as unknown, intermediary, or falseness stemming from Old French and Middle English, think of bullshit.[5] Reclamation of the term dyke, by the GLBQT community is a powerful tool that can highlight those excluded in order to build the city of heterosexism. Butler writes, “Heterosexism is a power system that operates through structuring itself as natural, and rendering itself the original term.”[6] Dyke reclaimed challenges the goddess dyke the enemy of falsehood.[7] Dyke operates outside the heterosexist binary therefore taking this term and redeploying it challenges the original aims of the word as Derrida writes “there is no justice without some interruption and some disproportion.”[8]

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[1] Petrochilos, George A. "Kalokagathia: The Ethical Basis of Hellenic Political Economy and Its Influence." History of Political Economy (2002): 599-631.

[2] Payne, David. "Rhetoric, Reality, and Knowledge: A Re-Examination of Protagoras' Concept of Rhetoric." Rhetoric Society Quarterly 16.3 (1986): 187-197.

[3] Protagoras. "Excerpts." Woodruff, Michael Gagarin and Paul. Early Greek Political thought from Homer to the Sophists. Cambridge University, 1995 p. 173

[4]. Ibid p. 183

[5] Krantz, Susan E. "Reconsidering the Etymology of Bulldike." American Speech 70.2 (1995): 217-221.

[6] Butler, Judith. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of 'Sex'. . New York: Routledge, 1993. P. 125-126

[7] http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/HoraDike.html

[8] Derrida, Jacques. "A Discussion with Jacques Derrida." Theory & Event 5.1 (2001).