READ ALSO : [adapted from Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University and Bonnie Mcelhinny, the University of Toronto] This course will concentrate for the most part on the ways in which language is used by women and by men. The different status of men and women in society is also reflected, however, by the ways in which women and men are talked about differently. In this exercise, you'll be collecting examples of sexist use of language and discussing possible approaches to eliminating it. (1) Some words are used to refer both to people in general and men in particular, while the feminine counterparts refer only to women, and not to people in general. Some examples include: man, man-to-man, prehistoric man, brotherhood, you guys, and policeman. In addition, masculine words are often used as the base from which feminine words are formed, but word-formation rarely goes in the other direction. Examples include Paul/Paulette, governor/governess, major/majorette, star/starlet. Find ten other examples of such asymmetry in language. What sorts of alternative usages can you suggest in each case? (For example, one can substitute police officer for policeman, person-to-person for man-to-man, prehistoric people for prehistoric man, etc. One can also use star to refer to male and female performers.) (2) Of the words which serve as generic referents, the one which has recently received most attention is the use of the 'generic' masculine pronoun he/him/his in such sentences as the average student is worried about his grades, we will hire the best qualified person regardless of his sex, each student can select his own topic, everyone should do his best, each student will do better if he has a voice in the decision, and when everyone contributes his own ideas, the discussion will be a success. A number of recent sociolinguistic and psychological studies have demonstrated that the masculine pronoun, though traditionally used as a generic or neutral referent for any individual, is strongly linked in most people's minds, and in most people's usages, with men only. Many journals, magazines and newspapers now require that submissions be rewritten in more inclusionary language. Several strategies suggested for avoiding the use of the 'generic' masculine pronoun include the following: -Drop the masculine pronoun The average student is worried about [Ø] grades. -Rewrite the sentence in the plural rather than the singular Students can select their own topics. -Substitute the pronoun one/one's for he/his One should do one's best. -Use he or she, his or her Each student will do better if she or he has a voice in the decision. -Use their when the subject is an indefinite pronoun When everyone contributes their own ideas, the discussion will be a success. Collect 20 examples of sentences in each of which you find the use of the 'generic' masculine pronoun OR the use of one of these alternative strategies. These sentences may be culled from naturally occurring speech, from radio shows, newspapers, magazines, soap operas, your own essays, etc. Carefully note the source of each sentence. Which formulation do you find most frequently? Do men and women tend to use the same formulation, or different ones? Is any one formulation favoured in certain discourse genres (e.g. newspapers or casual conversations with friends)? (3) What do ways of referring to men and women demonstrate about the values and behaviours associated with the two sexes? The two lists below contain terms of reference for men and women. When you evaluate the connotations associated with each word, do you find any patterns? (One way of looking at the connotations is to mark each word according to whether it is associated with Animals (A), Objects (O), Food (F), Sex (S), Young (Y), Old (Ol), No Positive or Negative Connotation-neutral (N), Positive Connotation (P), Derogatory or Negative Connotation (D). Each word may be characterisable by more than one of these features. Can you add any words to these lists? If you speak a language other than English, you may choose to create such lists for the language that you're familiar with and evaluate those patterns instead of evaluating the English words listed here. TERMS REFERRING TO WOMEN womanladygirlgirly lasssister broadchickbabe biddydamedoll damselcronedish honey miss nympho skirt sugartootswench hagtramp bitchwhore teaseharpydarling sweetie bunny maiden witch catchtartvamp squaw angel cookiehussy gossipairhead dogdykelesbian TERMS REFERRING TO MEN man gentboyguyfellowgentleman ladbrotherblokechapcodger dude geekgeezernerdold goat schmucksport stagstudhunk jockbumbuddy he-manwimp jerk creepredneckbastard prickasshole fairygayfaggot motherf-er queer (4) Often word choice reflects unexamined attitudes about appropriate sex roles, so that terms frequently or normatively associated with one sex are modified when used with the other sex. Examples include: nurse (male nurse), doctor (lady doctor), family man (but not family woman), career woman (but not career man). In other cases the feminine referent trivializes the woman's work/career as in authoress or poetess. Collect five examples of such sex-role stereotyping. If you were writing guidelines for non-sexist use of language, what sorts of substitutions or suggestions would you offer to deal with such words?
