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Sexist language and gender-neutral language Julie Bytheway 4 June 2009 University of Twente Kenloo Massey University Moving from

Outline intro define past effects forms future

Definition Sexist language is words, phrases, and expressions that unnecessarily differentiate between women and men or exclude, trivialize or diminish either. Gender-neutral language is... Parks & Roberton (1998), cited in Edwards (2008)

Examples men/guys he/him/his Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms he or she manmade chairman/layman lady doctor/male nurse office girls/family man

Past St Hildegarde of Bingen, 11 th century attempted to construct non-sexist alternative The Revolution, 1868-1871 paid attention to sexist language Simone de Beauviour, 1952 challenged of generic use of man Penelope (1990); Rakow & Kramarae (1990), cited in Weatherall (2002)

Man as generic form laws about punishment: women included laws about privileges and benefits: women not included Spender (1990)

Man as generic form not natural form introduced by grammarians The masculine Person answers to the general name which comprehends both Male and Female; as Any Person, who knows what he says. Kirby (1746) introduced by British government in 1850 Bodine (1975)

Man as generic form not natural form introduced by male grammarians The masculine Person answers to the general name which comprehends both Male and Female; as Any Person, who knows what he says. Kirby (1746) introduced by all male British government in 1850 Bodine (1975)

Language equality Prescriptivism Linguistic practices and preferences are based on society elites, rather than any natural or objective notion of correctness. Descriptivism Different language varieties are equal in linguistic terms, and it is wrong to label some varieties as inferior. Cameron (1995); Mesthrie, Swann, Deumert, & Leap (2000)

Language vs society Sankoff (1986); Mesthrie, Swann, Deumert, & Leap (2000)

Power and dominance By promoting the symbol of man at the expense of woman it is clear that visibility and primacy of males is supported. We learn to see the male as the worthier, more comprehensive and superior sex as we divide and organised the world along these lines. Spender (1990)

Research differences power and dominance gendered language reflects social distinctions, but also actively maintains these Mesthrie, Swann, Deumert, & Leap (2000)

Mackay (1979); Crawford & English (1984); Mackay & Fulkerson (1979), Mouton, Robinson & Elias (1978), Cole, Hill & Dayley (1983); Schneider & Haker (1973), Briere & Lanktree (1983), Murdock & Forsyth (1985); Falk & Mills (1996), cited in Weatherall (2002); Bem & Bem (1973); Johnson & Dowling-Guyer (1996); Cameron (1994); Fergusson (2004)

Communication styles Coats (1993); Crawford (1995); Graddol & Swann (1989); Holmes (1994); Tannen (1990)

Management styles Tannen (1990)

1963 -> 2009 King (1963) Obama (2009)

Gender-specific Gender-neutral poet/poetess hero/heroine manager/manageress governor/governess chairman freshman layman salesman poet manager

poet/poetess hero/heroine manager/manageress governor/governess chairman freshman layman salesman poet hero manager governor chair first-year student layperson salesperson Gender-specific Gender-neutral

Titles Questionable Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms Prof. Dr. Mrs. Holmes Dear Sir/Madam Acceptable Mr, Ms Professor Holmes To whom it may concern Dear householder Dear customer

Women Questionable girl lady man and wife lecturers and their wives Acceptable women women husband and wife lecturers and their partners

Unacceptable career woman working mother lady doctor family man house husband male nurse

Unacceptable ambitious men aggressive women strong men domineering women persuasive man nagging woman driven man selfish woman

Invisible women man mankind guys he him his

Invisible women man mankind guys he him his people, human humanity y’all, yous they them their

Invisible woman Where this publication refers to "he" and "his", "she" and "her" are also implied. CAO University System for Job Classification ( 2003)

Word order he or she, he/she, s/he his or her, him or her men and women sons and daughters ladies and gentlemen

Irrelevant differences A lecturer needs to submit his materials by… A lecturer needs to submit his or her materials by… A lecturer needs to submit all materials by… Lecturers need to submit their materials by…

Someone phoned, but he didn’t leave his number. Someone phoned, but he or she didn’t leave his or her number. Someone phoned, but didn’t leave a number. Someone phoned, but they didn’t leave their number. Irrelevant differences

Language is a form of human reason, which has its internal logic of which man knows nothing. Sexist language Levi-Strauss (1972)

Sexist language Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Kennedy (1963)

Sexist language An officer goes to the scene as quickly as possible. He sees the bad guy. There is no time for thought. He acts. Gladwell (2005)

Sexist language The employee is obliged to perform his duties to the best of his ability, to behave as a good employee and to act in accordance with the instructions given by or on behalf of the employer. CAO (2008)

Resistance comical irritating annoying resist change habit oblivious censorship restricts free speech feminist ideology Romaine (2001); Liben, Bigler & Krogh (2002); Parks & Robertson (2005), cited in Edwards (2008)

Accepted gender equality is widely viewed as desirable international laws and regulations have been recast style guides address gender-neutral language

Redefine Sexism in language can be considered more broadly as forms of language use that function to control women, and discourses that perpetuate social beliefs about women. Weatherall (2000)

References Cameron, D. (Ed.). (1994). Non-sexist communication: guidelines for staff and students. Strathclyde: Public Relations Service, University of Strathclyde. Cameron, D. (1995). Rethinking language and gender studies: some issues from the 1990’s, in S Mills (Ed.), Language and gender: interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 31-44). Harlow: Longman. Cameron, D. (2005). Language, gender, and sexuality: Current issues and new directions. Applied Linguistics, 26 (4), 482-502. Coats, J. (1993). Women, men and language. Harlow: Longman. Crawford, M. (1995). Talking difference: On gender and language. London: Sage Publications. Edwards, A. (2008). Non-sexist language reform in ESL institutions. Maastricht: Maastricht University. Fergusson, C. (2004). Sexist language persists in the ESL classroom. English teaching forum, 42 (1), 36-42. Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink. London: Penguin. Graddol, D., & Swann, J. (1989). Gender voices. Oxford: Blackwell. Hart, J. (2007) . BC. Retrieved on May 12, 2009 from http://johnhartstudios.com. Holmes, J. (1994). Improving the lot of female language learners, in J Sunderland (Ed.), Exploring gender: Questions and implications for English language education. London: Prentice Hall. Johnson, M., & Dowling-Guyer, S. (1996). Effects of inclusive vs. Exclusive language on evaluations of counsellor. Sex Roles, 34 (5), 407-418.

References Kennedy, J. (1961, January 20). Inaugural address. Retrieved on May 13, 2009 from http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html. King, M. (1963, May 13). I have a dream. Retrieved on May 13, 2009 from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm. Levi-Strauss, C. (1974). Structural Anthropology. New York: Basic Books. Mesthrie, R., Swann, J., Deumert, A., & Leap, W. (2000 ). Introducing sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Obama, B. (2009, January 20) . Inaugural address . Retrieved on May 13, 2009 from http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres68.html. Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct. New York: Harper Perennial. Sankoff, G. (1986). Social life of language. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Spender, D. (1990). Man made language. London: Routledge & Kegan. Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand. New York: Morrow. VSNU . (2003). Collective labour agreement (CAO). The Hague: Stichting SoFoKleS. VSNU . (2008). Collective labour agreement (CAO). The Hague: Stichting SoFoKleS. Weatherall, A. (2002) . Gender, language and discourse. London: Routledge.

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