Male Bias In English Language Essay

Several studies have been investigating the differences between men and women's use of the English language. The problem with studies of this kind, according to Romaine (1999), is that the differences are taken for truths and no further investigations are made as to why these differences exist. The differences could be a reflection on gender issues in society, or even the cause of them. There is seemingly little argument against the fact that English is male-biased as a construction. When investigating male bias in the English language, a few factors should be taken into consideration: words that are in themselves discriminating, that women are not as visible in the language as men, the connotations of each word that reflects on gender issues

311, 1999), as she states “one of the sometimes more subtle forms of discrimination against women is that they are not mentioned at all.”. This is the case in the use of man as a generic term. The use of the word man, in titles such as fireman or policeman are by non-reformists regarded as justified, according to DeFrancis (pp. 298-299, 1994), as most people who occupy that title are in fact men. When it comes to expressions such as 'every man for himself', they derive from a time where the word man in actuality referred to mankind, however, as Miller and Swift (1988) states, it has changed meaning in modern times to simply refer to male humans. Many feel that their linguistic freedom is challenged, according to Miller and Swift (1988), when a semantic change in a word is recognized. In written texts, masculine generics such as he or man are still often used instead of gender neutral generics such as people or person, despite the semantic change of the words. This, according to Hamilton, (1991), has led to that people regard he as a synonym to people. Hence, in people's minds, according to studies, “male is a more prototypical human than is female” (Henley, as cited in Hamilton, pp.394, 1991). A way of making women more visible in the language is “engendering”, often using suffixes or prefixes letting the reader/listener aware of the gender

Even the reformation critic John Simon, agrees to this. However, he claims that “women shouldn't interfere with language, in a man's world, the language belongs to men” (Simon, as cited in Romaine, pp. 292, 1999). This is an example of sexism as a social conflict. However, society and language are connected as the English language both “reflects and constructs women's position as inferior to men” (Romaine, pp. 291, 1999). English as a construction is masculine-biased in several ways. The issue of masculine bias is not solved by merely changing words that are problematic, according to Romaine (pp. 125, 1999), as she states: “it is not the linguistic forms themselves that discriminate, but the way in which they are used in particular contexts to particular persons”. In my view, the way we use language is both a symptom and a cause of sexism in society. It is important not to contribute to stale ideas and use language in a manner that demeans anyone in striving for a more equal