Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 34 views

    Sexism in Language-Final

    Uploaded by

    Donna de Roma
    This document discusses sexism in language and how certain words exclude or marginalize women. Specifically, it points out how words like "mankind" and "brotherhood of man" portray humanity or groups as exclusively male. The author recalls first encountering these terms as a child and feeling confused about their gendered implications. Over time, the implicit notion of male supremacy embedded in language became clearer. The frequent use of male-centered terms works to erase women's presence and identities. True gender equality needs to start at the linguistic level by ensuring women are directly and equally represented through language.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Sexism in Language-Final

    Uploaded by

    Donna de Roma
    34 views2 pages
    This document discusses sexism in language and how certain words exclude or marginalize women. Specifically, it points out how words like "mankind" and "brotherhood of man" portray humanity or groups as exclusively male. The author recalls first encountering these terms as a child and feeling confused about their gendered implications. Over time, the implicit notion of male supremacy embedded in language became clearer. The frequent use of male-centered terms works to erase women's presence and identities. True gender equality needs to start at the linguistic level by ensuring women are directly and equally represented through language.

    Original Title

    Sexism in Language-final.doc

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document discusses sexism in language and how certain words exclude or marginalize women. Specifically, it points out how words like "mankind" and "brotherhood of man" portray humanity or groups as exclusively male. The author recalls first encountering these terms as a child and feeling confused about their gendered implications. Over time, the implicit notion of male supremacy embedded in language became clearer. The frequent use of male-centered terms works to erase women's presence and identities. True gender equality needs to start at the linguistic level by ensuring women are directly and equally represented through language.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    34 views2 pages

    Sexism in Language-Final

    Uploaded by

    Donna de Roma
    This document discusses sexism in language and how certain words exclude or marginalize women. Specifically, it points out how words like "mankind" and "brotherhood of man" portray humanity or groups as exclusively male. The author recalls first encountering these terms as a child and feeling confused about their gendered implications. Over time, the implicit notion of male supremacy embedded in language became clearer. The frequent use of male-centered terms works to erase women's presence and identities. True gender equality needs to start at the linguistic level by ensuring women are directly and equally represented through language.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Sioson, Rayanne Faith D.

    Introduction to Language, Society and Culture

    ABELS 2-1

    Women behind 'mankind'

    Language, ever since have been an important part of people's life. It is a medium of
    communication, hence, it is used in political motives, economic operation, relationship
    establishment and academic purposes. But what if the language used exercises a form of
    gender discrimination, sexism in language? The influence of language to a person is vast, it
    gives them identity. If the language marginalizes a certain group of sex then it shall, without a
    doubt, cause degradation or inferiority to their sexual identity, in this case, women.

    Sexism in language can also be observed in school textbooks and activities. I was in
    elementary when I first encountered the word 'mankind'. I read it from a story in an English
    textbook. Eventually, I discovered that the word refers to every individual of every sex, female
    and male. But as a child who still had to learn more words, I got confused as I had learned that
    woman is female and man is male. 'Mankind' pertains to all individual of any sex and certainly,
    the word 'man' from 'mankind' is definitely not woman. However, that confusion began to
    subside gradually every time I move up another grade. Those words seemed to not matter and
    so I decided to do the same until I once again stumbled upon a word from John Lenon's
    Imagine, 'brotherhood of man'. It became clear to me then that these words, even the earlier
    ones that I had learned, favors the populace of men, that man can represent woman but never
    can a woman represent a man. I started to see the implicit notions of male supremacy in the
    language, at school, in politics, in the community even at home.

    The words 'mankind' and 'brotherhood of man' made it seem that women are invisible and
    or of unequal worth. It made me wonder about the women and myself because it so happens
    that I am female. I thought about the uncountable times I wrote 'mankind' in essays, quizzes,
    etc. and how I ignorantly erased myself from my own works. My name is written on every paper
    but the teachers would only know I'm female by the time they look at me or my profile in their
    index cards. My identity does not matter and the language had made me lose my sense of
    identity (even individuality). Sexism in the language manipulated women to doubt that they are
    capable of having a sense of individuality and can be addressed separately from men.
    The frequent use of 'his' to represent both female and male is not a trivial matter, it is a
    frequent elimination of the presence of women. Behind every recurrent male-patronizing word
    are hundreds, thousands or even millions of forgotten, devalued women. Persistent use of
    sexism in language constantly strengthens the system of patriarchy and it will continue to
    discriminate against women. The practice of gender equality should not be visible only through
    physical deeds, the equity in gender treatment should start in the linguistic aspect. Women
    should be able to hold a position of their own and not be forced in contentment of being
    represented by men. Women should be allowed to exercise their authority and recognition
    without being stereotyped.

    You might also like