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Although previous work on sexist linguistic structures has identified the causes of sexism in language as stemming from an androcentric world view, it has not described the social and semiotic processes involved in the historic production and reproduction of this kind of linguistic sexism. This article uses the three processes of iconisation, fractal recursivity, and erasure to bring together what appear to be disparate phenomena (such as the masculine generic, and even the very existence of the feminine grammatical gender) into a unifying theory. Iconisation results in the binary division of humanity into females and males; fractal recursivity explains how this division was projected onto language; and erasure demonstrates how certain discourses have been ignored, to the profit of others. A Queer critique of the two concepts of binarity and markedness (which arise as a result of iconisation) opens up exciting new ways to approach sexism in language, and to revitalise research in this area.

"Innovations and Challenges: Women, Language and Sexism brings together an outstanding collection of internationally recognised researchers to recontextualise some of the questions raised by feminist thinkers 40 years ago. The topic of gender and language has evolved tremendously in the last decades and research has contributed in many ways to a heightened awareness of gender-inflected discourse. Many of the issues discussed in the 70s and 80s, however, continue to be a problem as sexism, racism and ageism in discourses in private and institutional contexts have manifested in fresh ways in recent years. In linguistics and discourse-oriented applied research, the question of plain sexism has been side-lined since sexuality and gender identity seem to be the present concerns of the great majority of gender research. By taking linguistically mediated violence as a central topic, this collection's main objective is to explore the different and subtle ways sexism and violence are materialised in discursive practices. In doing so, this book: Takes a multi-stranded investigation into the linguistic and semiotic representations of sexism in societies today from an applied linguistic and semiotic perspective; Combines critical discourse analysis, multimodality, interactional sociolinguistics and corpus methodologies to look at language, visuals and semiotic resources in the context of consumerist culture; Examines the conflicted position of women and the discourses of discrimination that still exists in every strand of modern societies; Contextualises pervasive gender issues and reviewing key gender and language topics that changed the ways we interpret interaction from the early seventies till the present; Focuses on institutional discourses and the questions of how women are excluded or discriminated against in the workplace, the law and educational contexts. This book is essential reading for those studying and researching gender across a wide range of disciplines"--

This paper examines sexism in the Dagbanli language of northern Ghana. The focus is on the vocabulary, and on popular terms and expressions that name, label or describe males and females. Although reference is occasionally made to dictionary definitions, the analyses of gender biases and stereotyping are based on speakers' interpretations and descriptions of the cultural practices that provide the context for the use of words and their proper interpretation. The study reveals biased assumptions in the meanings of words that refer to males and females and the use of words to create and affirm gendered stereotypes of the two sexes. Similar words that refer to males and females do not have equivalent meanings; there are more labels that denigrate and trivialise females than males, and the labelling shows that different standards of conduct are set for males and females.

Although research on language and gender has focused largely on gendered languages, not much attention has been given to genderless languages. The current study attempts to explore gender ideologies and sexism in Ga, which is a genderless language. Based on an interdisciplinary approach to this multifaceted problem, the author aims at critically reviewing the construction and representation of gender identities through language using Glick and Fiske's ambivalent sexism theory and feminist critical discourse analysis of data collected from focus group discussions and interviews. Among other things, this study shows how discourses of biological essentialism are used to justify what is presented as a natural gender order.

Text Wird man in Zukunft noch von "Fussgängern" und "Radfahrern" sprechen? Zumindest die Strassenverkehrsordnung kennt diese Begriffe seit 2013 nicht mehr und führt sie nun als "zu Fuss Gehende" und "Rad Fahrende". Dies gilt als "Erfolg" sprachfeministischer Bemühungen, die deutsche Sprache "geschlechtergerecht" umzugestalten. Dr. Norbert Dörner untersucht solche sprachlichen Veränderungen und kommt zu einem alarmierenden Urteil: Die Sprache wird zunehmend sexualisiert, ideologisiert und dadurch immer schwerer verständlich und weniger alltagstauglich. In der Praxis haben sich die "geschlechtergerechten" Formulierungen des Sprachfeminismus nur in Teilbereichen durchgesetzt und der allgemeine Sprachgebrauch hat dem Treiben der Sprachveränderer bisher glücklicherweise widerstanden

Foundations -- Developing a critical gender/sex lens -- Theories of gender/sex -- Gendered/sexed voices -- Gendered/sexed bodies -- Gendered/sexed language -- Institutions -- An introduction to gender in social institutions -- Families -- Education -- Work -- Religion -- Media -- One last look through a critical gendered lens -- References -- Index -- About the authors