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.
La literatura, el folclore, los diccionarios y las gramáticas han utilizado y explicado las manifestaciones lingüísticas de modo que se adapten a la idea de que lo masculino debe ser el criterio universal (Spender 1980). Frente a estos antecedentes históricos, las feministas durante los años 70 y, posteriormente, los defensores de lo políticamente correcto de los 90, comenzaron una batalla contra el sexismo en el lenguaje, proporcionando soluciones en forma de pautas, folletos, glosarios, etc (Key 1975, Maggio 1987, 1991, McMinn 1991).El presente artículo explora la afirmación: "male equals positive and normal, female equals negative and abnormal" (Lakoff 1975, 2001) y, al prestar atención a desviaciones semánticamente parciales, proporcionar una visión histórica de equivalentes masculinos y femeninos. El corpus se construirá a partir de diccionarios monolingües y bilingües, diccionarios de expresiones idiomáticas, argot y proverbios para ofrecer un estudio diacrónico del lenguaje sexista, principalmente en inglés y español. Los sinónimos de algunas palabras se extraerán de páginas web y, para medir la actualidad de algunos de los ejemplos, se utilizarán tres corpus en línea. Se analizará también el marco sociocultural de estos términos y expresiones para ver hasta qué punto han moldeado ambas sociedades y qué efectos tienen actualmente en la vida de las mujeres. ; Literature, folklore, dictionaries and grammars have used and explained language manifestations to conform to the idea that male should be the standard of humanity (Spender 1980). Against this historical background, feminists during the 1970s and later politically correct advocates of the 1990s started battling against sexism in language, providing solutions, in the form of guidelines, booklets, glossaries, etc (Key 1975, Maggio 1987,1991, McMinn 1991).The present article explores the value assumption: "male equals positive and normal, female equals negative and abnormal" (Lakoff 1975, 2001) and, by paying attention to semantic biased deviations, gives a historical account of male and female counterparts. The corpus will be drawn from monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, dictionaries of idiomatic expressions, slang and proverbs to offer a diachronic study of sexist language mainly in English and in Spanish. Synonyms for certain terms will be drawn from Web pages and to measure the currency of some of the examples three on-line corpora will be used. The socio-cultural framework of these terms and expressions will be studied to see to what extent they have moulded both societies and what effects they have in women's lives today.
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.
It's a Sunday morning, I get up and sit on the couch to drink my coffee, I drink a newspaper of national circulation, I begin to look at it to see if there is something that calls me the attention, on the front page I read the headlines with news of everyday topics; politics, health, economy, etc. In the lower left margin the first thing you notice is a young girl in Swimsuit that won a beauty contest. I keep turning the newspaper sheets and I I stop in a story entitled Commitment to speed shelter for underprivileged children ; Es un domingo por la mañana, me levanto y me siento en el sillón para tomarme el café, tomoun periódico de circulación nacional, empiezo a ojearlo para ver si hay algo que me llame laatención, en primera plana leo los titulares con noticias de temas cotidianos; política, salud,economía, etc. En el margen inferior izquierdo lo primero que se nota es a una jovencita entraje de baño que ganó un concurso de belleza. Sigo pasando las hojas del periódico y medetengo en una noticia titulada Compromiso de apresurar amparo a niños desvalidos.
In: Women's studies international quarterly: a multidisciplinary journal for the rapid publ. of research communications and review articles in women's studies, Band 3, Heft 2-3, S. 267-275
Ambivalenter Sexismus besteht aus offen feindseligen (hostiler Sexismus) und scheinbar wohlwollenden (benevolenter Sexismus) Sichtweisen auf Frauen. Obwohl anzunehmen ist, dass ambivalent-sexistische Einstellungen nicht nur gegenüber Frauen, sondern auch gegenüber Mädchen bestehen und sich bereits im Jugendalter herausbilden, wurden auf Mädchen bezogene Einstellungen und jugendliche Stichproben bisher kaum untersucht, vermutlich auch aufgrund des Fehlens eines geeigneten Messinstrumentes. Wir stellen ein deutschsprachiges Instrument zur Messung ambivalent-sexistischer Einstellungen gegenüber jugendlichen Mädchen zum Einsatz bei Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen vor. Zur Prüfung der Kriteriumsvalidität untersuchten wir mit 1 128 Jugendlichen den Zusammenhang zwischen ambivalent-sexistischen Einstellungen gegenüber Mädchen und einem Geschlechtergerechtigkeitsindex. Die Konstruktvalidität prüften wir in 2 Stichproben junger Erwachsener (Studierende der Sozialwissenschaften, N = 441, und des Polizeivollzugsdienstes, N = 153), die zusätzlich ein etabliertes Inventar zur Messung des ambivalenten Sexismus gegenüber Frauen sowie verwandte Skalen ausfüllten. Die Ergebnisse verweisen auf Reliabilität und Validität des Inventars zur Messung des Ambivalenten Sexismus gegenüber jugendlichen Mädchen (ASI-Mäd).
Abstract The paper aims at raising female students' awareness about sexism in language and designing and applying sociocultural linguistic interventions in Qatar. Contributing to the nascent feminist research tradition in this relatively new and rapidly up-and-coming country, it presents a tangible pedagogical proposal from the context of tertiary education. At the same time, in terms of its contribution to gender-related sociolinguistic theory this project can be seen as an attempt to offer a suggestion on how to theorise the positionality of sociolinguistic professionals in relation to issues and contexts they address.
Investigación consistente en el sexismo lingüístico, en concreto, en la lengua española. Estudio de los rasgos sexistas de la lengua y de su influencia en la sociedad y en la cultura tradicional española. Análisis posterior de las consecuencias del sexismo en el lenguaje en el imaginario colectivo y de forma individual, así como los hábitos y los usos que lo perpetuan y lo promueven. Comparación en la que se muestra cómo afecta la discriminación lingüística a la propaganda política contemporánea. Proposición de posibles soluciones para erradicar el sexismo en el lenguaje y reorientación de la propaganda política contemporánea ; Investigació consistent en el sexisme lingüístic, concretament, en la llengua española. Estudi dels trets sexistes de la llengua i de la seva influència en la societat i en la cultura tradicional espanyola. Anàlisi posterior de les conseqüències del sexisme en el llenguatge en l'imaginari col·lectiu i de forma individual, així com els hàbits i els usos que el perpetuen i el promouen. Comparar com afecta la discriminació lingüística a la propaganda política contemporànea. Proposar possible solucions per a erradicar el sexisme en el llenguatge i reorientar la propaganda política contemporànea ; Conscious study on sexist language, specifically, in Spanish. Study of the sexist features of the language and its influence in society, and in the Spanish traditional culture. Subsequent analysis of sexist language in the collective imagination and individually, as well as the habits and uses that perpetuate it and promote it. Compare how language discrimination affects modern political propaganda. Propose possible solutions to eradicate sexist language and redirect modern political propaganda
This paper presents a study of English adjectives used to describe men and women of different ages, and the gender- and age-based stereotypes revealed. Drawing on evidence in the 450-million-word Bank of English corpus, it examines central items such as young and old in combination with the gendered pairing man/men and woman/women, identifying sets of adjectival collocates associated with different age groups. These adjectives can be considered secondary age-markers, coding age through reference to physical and behavioural characteristics typical of different age groups and genders, and comprising a cryptotype (Whorf 1956) or covert category. This is discussed in the final part of the paper, along with deviant usage ('young' adjectives applied to older people, and vice versa). Since adjectives clustering with young mainly evaluate positively, those with old are mostly negative, there are implications for studies of ageism and sexism in language, and representation, age and gender more broadly.