Introduction
Sexist language emerged as a result of the traditional fight for superiority and power between the two genders. Though sexist language has impacts on men and women, its negative impact on women is more pronounced through rampant ignorance of the female gender. Sexist language therefore represents the traditional notions of male domination where the role of women was reduced to supporting a man. These stereotypes demean women in society and make men appear superior. In essence, language sexism was transferred through generations but had conceivably lost a great deal of its sexist implications with time. Yet, a number of language experts still insinuate that sexism through language is discriminatory in nature and therefore cannot be considered as unconscious fault. Whether applied directly or indirectly, sexist language underscores inherent discrimination of the female gender, mainly through associating women with lesser or minor roles in the society.
Sexism denotes the use of words and expressions that demean, disregard, or label people of either gender or that pointlessly invoke interest to gender (Lakoff & Bucholtz, 2004). It continues today because the stereotypes are still ingrained in our language with several invocations to genders. In this paper I am going to explore how the existence and implications of sexism in three main grammatical gender systems, namely Gendered languages, Natural Gender languages and Genderless languages, can affect gender equality in their corresponding societies.
Sexist Language
Language sexism may appear ruthless or discriminatory but may also be considered as innocent owing to the wide application of certain phrases ignorantly. In several of the cases, language sexism involv...
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...ations where it occurs, in addition to how words are labeled for gender diverge cross-linguistically (Brouwer, 2011). Gender nuance may interrelate with other grammatical groups like case or number. In a number of languages the declension outline followed by the description itself could be reliant on its gender. Instances of grammatical genders include Indo-European languages comprising German, Russian, Hindi and Spanish languages. Others include Semitic languages like Hebrew, Arabic and Amharic languages along with Australian Aboriginal, Northeast Caucasian, Afro-Asiatic and Dravidian languages. Contemporary form of English is not often considered as having grammatical gender though the classic version of English had the component. A number of components remaining that represent the gender system include unique personal pronouns like it, she and he (Brouwer, 2011).
Blatantly sexist laws and practices are slowly being eliminated while social perceptions of "women's roles" continue to stagnate and even degrade back to traditional ideals. It is these social perceptions that challenge the evolution of women as equal on all levels. In this study, I will argue that subtle and blatant sexism continues to exist throughout educational, economic, professional and legal arenas.
This inconsistency in the English language is hard to rectify, considering it is not the dictionary definition that needs altering, but the associations society as a whole has with these words. Therefore, in this circumstance the blame for the sexist lexical asymmetry does not lay with the English language, but with society’s interpretation of the vocabulary. The regular occurrence of marked terms for female roles is a second example where the English language may be seen as degrading to women. Illustrations of this include ‘actress’ for females, where a suffix has been added onto the end of the unmarked mal... ...
Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my topic is going to cover language analysis of the text and who women reading and writing differs according to the discourse analysis within linguistic, psychology, case studies audiences and surveys. The book would be helpful, particularly the last three essays that discusses gender, public speaking, the question of politeness and impoliteness in public speaking. Mills’ analysis is not complete without including the idea of global notions of both women and men, to see whether women and men write and read in the same way globally. Therefore, an update would enrich the book’s discussion section. Although, Mills addresses the class and race theme in language and public speaking, I will only look into the role of language that plays a part in doing or reducing gender in literary, non-literary texts and in conversation.
Sexism can have many negative impacts on the way women view themselves, research was conducted and it showed that when exposed to modern sexism, women expressed negative self-directed emotions. Modern sexism exposure also resulted in stereotypical self-presentation, where in contrast, women who were exposed to old-fashioned sexism displayed less self-defeating behavior. This research concluded that women were more likely to stand up and defend themselves against the old-fashioned gender stereotypes, but let the modern day expectations defeat them (Ellemers & Barreto, 2009).
In recent years, gender differences have already been one of the most controversial issues in various research. As an important communication tool of mankind, language is inevitably involved in controversies. However, Rachel Rafelman, a Canadian journalist and the author of “The Party Line” express her thought and opinion in her essay. She not only have some great points on what and how women and men are likely to talk, but also have different points on the talking environment. She comes up with facts and fit real and particle examples in her essay to make it understood. Whereas, Ronald Macaulay, a professor of linguistics and the author of “Sex Difference” uses words of novels to argue and promotes them as a cause of reinforce to men’s and women’s stereotypes in his essay. He argues through his whole as rebuttal and gives some examples to oppose the preconceived notion of sex differences. Over all, both Rafelman and Macaulay are the good writer but Rafelman is having upper to prove her essay better organized using her tones as per requirement.
The clusters of social definitions used to identify persons by gender are collectively known as “femininity” and “masculinity.” Masculine characteristics are used to identify persons as males, while feminine ones are used as signifiers for femaleness. People use femininity or masculinity to claim and communicate their membership in their assigned, or chosen, sex or gender. Others recognize our sex or gender more on the basis of these characteristics than on the basis of sex characteristics, which are usually largely covered by clothing in daily life.
Nilsen began this study of the dictionary not with the intention of prescribing language change but simply to see what the language would reveal about sexism to her. Sexism is not something that existing independently in American English or in the particular dictionary that she happened to read. Rather it exists in people's minds.
Even after these prejudices were overcome, the education system still maintained sexism in both obvious and subtle ways. Books rein...
Allan G. Johnson in his article titled “The Gender Knot,” analyzes gender roles such as female and male influence on people’s perspectives about labels. Johnson introduces the gender system, in which men are empowered and women are submissive. The system, known as patriarchy splices people into categories of masculine and feminine. Allan Johnson argues,
The use of language can be seen to correlate with the views of society. The words used to describe groups and the tone associated is a hindrance to the acceptance of all the ways people are grouped. Prejudice can be stereotypes or terms used that society did not first recognize as discrimination or hate. The words spoken can have a greater impact than once believed. The ability to vocalize these words can be permanent through social media and has a negative impact on society. Social media shows that women are grouped with unwanted characteristics. The message that language can have towards the ability of women is taught in schools. The discrimination learned through schools can affect women in their area of employment and society. The inability
Gender refers to psychological and emotional characteristics that cause people to assume, masculine, feminine or androgynous (having a combination of both feminine and masculine traits) roles. Your gender is learned and socially reinforced by others, as well as by your life experiences and g...
... “Women’s Language.” In this “language” she says that women tend to use more color adjectives and more tag questions than men because of their uncertainty. Also, she stated that swearing is considered an act of power and it is possible that that is the reason as to why women are not “allowed” to say these words. Even in the Victorian Era, swearing was reserved to men because the rights of women were basically given to their husbands. This is where the “housewife” attributed to women began. Lackoff claimed that “the decisive factor is less purely gender than power in the real world” (1975). Swearing is not only seen as a male attribute but is reserved to people (men) who exert power. In our society, it seems that men believe they are the only ones who should have access to power. Therefore, “women’s language”
Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.
Gender roles have greatly influenced the way human beings think and behave, including traditional stereotypes portraying men as strong and dominate, whereas the female been are submissive and unintelligent (Lovdal, 1989). Throughout history, gender stereotypes have particularly disadvantaged and discriminated against women in the workforce, at home, through education and in society as a whole causing inequality amongst the female gender (Clark, 1991). But as will be discussed, while stereotypical traditional gender roles and inequalities continue in society, ideologies on the issues are starting to change. This essay will examine how ideologies on stereotypical traditional gender roles have influenced gender in society and the gender inequalities
Wardhaugh states different social norms defining the standards of being men or women, which has a profound influence on the language behavior shown by different genders. In other words, both men and women should possess the ability to show either masculinity or feminity through the language they use. When this ability overlaps with the other gender, however, one might be considered as as outsider of their own gender. He then lists the main differences between males and femals with the connection with language: genetic differences, social differences (e.g. various roles people take within a certain society), and linguistic differences (e.g. speech style and word choice). Doing so, he gives readers an indepth idea about how gender differences link to various language behaviors. He further explains how these differences are possibly created and constructed in society. Wardhaugh also examines a few common gender stereotypes, such as women talk more than men, and proves most of the stereotypes are wrong.