Language And Sexism In Language

While reading “Gender,” an essay by Jack Halberstam, the topic of sexism was brought to the forefront of my mind. It has been brought up more often in conversation in the modern era, issues such as how a few cruel insults pertain to female reproductive anatomy and, in a sense, degrade females and ultimately identify them, as well as femininity, as inherently “bad”. Such a thought stemmed from how Halberstam touches on the “problematic stabilization of the meaning of ‘women’ and ‘female’”: meaning there is no room for argument when it comes to your gender—you’re either a girl or not. You either fit into a strict mold, or you do not.

"Gender Stereotyping in the English Language" written by Laurel Richardson in 2003, Richardson argues people use the English language in such a way that limits, depreciates and ultimately dehumanizes women . Richardson develops and supports this theory by proposing the notion that historically, women have not only been limited by the terms used to describe them, but women are raised to think they must be confined to subservient jobs,  that customarily require less skill. Richardson's purpose through writing this article is to highlight an issue often overlooked, in order to promote the appropriate and equitable use of the English Language. The author intends for this principle to be turned into practice among women, men and children developing linguistic habits.

I found that gendered/sexed language, mainly the concept of language as an oppressor, to be helpful in creating a critical gendered lens. Concepts like semantic derogation, semantic imbalance, trivialization, and lack of vocabulary all outline the fact that language is completely gendered/sexed and unequal. Language can be used as a power source, both positively and negatively. It can be used to put others down, whether it’s through the use of derogatory terms or even just through the ways certain people speak and are spoken

It is the language that drinks blood, laps vulnerabilities, tucks its fascist boots under crinolines of respectability and patriotism as it moves relentlessly toward the bottom line and the bottomed-out mind. Sexist language, racist language, theistic language - all are typical of the policing languages of mastery, and cannot, do not permit new knowledge or encourage the mutual exchange of ideas.

Years later McConnell-Ginet (1989, as cited in McConnell-Ginet, 2011) began to study about language and gender in which it focused on speeches of men and women. Later in 2002, in investigating the characterisation of men and women in language, a study has been conducted that covered the sexism in language (Weatherall, 2002). Thus, the foundation of this research is based on the study of language and gender and its effect on

In Robin Lakoff's Language and Woman's Place the author Robin tells us her side of the inequity that women face. She wants to see what she can conclude from her experiences. In this article she tells us about her first hand accounts of this through introspection (Lakoff 46). Robin tells us about what language use can tell us about the nature of inequality (Lakoff 45). The author also talks about the subservient functions of women and the roles that sexes play in society (Lakoff 45). Robin wants to know if anything can be done for this cause or is this what our society has destined for women (Lakoff 46). Robin talks about how tag questions avoid coming into conflict about the question with the addressee (Lakoff 55). The author feels like

In origins of gender dichotomy of various adjectives and phrases is debated. Some, such as myself, believe that gendered expressions derive their meanings from the intentions of the speaker. Others, such as Mira Ramesh, believe that the interpretation of the listener is key in developing the gendered meanings of these phrases. While Ramesh makes some good points, many of her statements are one-sided and left unexplained or unanalyzed.

The article by Sally Raskoff states the current situation of gender and power in society. She states that we currently live in a male dominated society and hence our actions and languages reflect that. Examples of curse words are given to show how they refer to women negatively. This is happening because of male masculinity. According to Sally Raskoff, Males want to be seen as assertive, aggressive, and strong. And in order to show they are those things, they insult other males by referring to them as inferior things, body parts of women they consider to be “dirty”. One way to combat male masculinity is by emphasizing femininity, which is about encouraging women to be more nurturing, caring, mothering, and passive.

In Robin Lakoff’s article “You Are What You Say”, she explores how from a young age, girls are taught to speak daintily. She examines how after they are taught to speak this way, they are let out into a world where soft-spoken people are often thought of as too fragile or indecisive to take on positions of power. Being taught to speak softly essentially sets girls up so that they could never move up in the workplace because they aren’t taken seriously. Lakoff also notes how far ingrained in the English language this misogyny is. Many words that are indicative of females lose their proper meaning without a masculine possessive noun to precede it (such is the case with the words mistress), or have a negative meaning when compared with its male counterpart (like with the word spinster). As a last point, Lakoff mentions how in everyday life, even doing something as simple as grocery shopping, this linguistic double standard still exists. Cashiers tend to call women of any age a name such as “sweetie” or “love”; you’ll never hear a clerk call an adult male something like this.

In the fourth session, Kristen Keen talks about gendered language choices and how they affect how people relate in the society. Power based violence and the tendency of blaming victims has been on the rise in the society. The theme of the session is “She’s such a slut! Analyzing our gendered language choices and their impact”. Kristen Keen agrees that there is an increasing gendered language that has both negative and positive connotations and can either have positive or negative effects on how people relate.

In “Sex, Lies, and Conversation: Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other?” by Deborah Tannen, a graduate with a Doctorate of Philosophy in linguistics, she writes about how both men and women need to learn the differences between their conversations. Tannen is not only a professor at Georgetown, but she also has written many articles and books on linguistics. The article is very effective to inform about how learning the differences in communications between genders is important.

In the article “On Language; IN DEFENSE OF GENDER,” author Cyra McFadden is trying to start a discussion on how our language is primarily male oriented, but does not need to change. McFadden mocks the variations being made to conform to a gender neutral language, including the use of words like “persons”. By mocking the use of the neutral words like persons, it obvious that McFadden is displeased with the changes of taking masculinity out of everyday language usage. The masculine undertone of the English language and its unwanted changes are being acknowledged and scrutinized because, of new gender identifiers in the working class, written language, and our spoken language.

Gender stereotypes can have many different effects, but they are oftentimes negative. Utilizing it as a basis, society can create impossibly high standards. Failure of these standards evokes a sense of guilt within people. Such results stem from a bigger societal problem, which is that people live in a patriarchy—a system in which men hold the majority of powerful social and professional positions that shape society. According to Deborah Tannen’s “But What Do You Mean?”, the speech of women and men frequently creates conflict between the two sexes. Likewise in Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, Jim Burden perceives women solely through his patriarchal view of life. Lastly, through “Kim Wilde,” Marjane Satrapi reveals that women are often bound within the gender roles set by society. While many lenses can add to one’s perspective, gender has a stronger influence; therefore, people must actively attempt to view life beyond the single lens of gender.

Gender and language initiate an approach to the study of language use and looks into relations between the meaning and gender. Christie provides a systematic introduction to pragmatic approaches explaining the rules of social language and how pragmatics can be realized be feminist analyses of language’s nature

Language refers to the method that humans use to communicate either through speech or written. It consists of the use of the word in a structured and conventional way. Language has been referred to as ‘our means of classifying and ordering the world; our means of manipulating reality. In structure and in its use we bring out the world into realisation and if it is inherently inaccurate, then we are misled. (Dale Spender, 1980).Language has power that allows us to make sense out of the reality we live in. Sexism is discrimination of a person based on their gender, especially on women. Sexism in language is the use of language which devalues members on one sex, almost always women, showing gender inequality. In the 1960/70’s there was a