The use of gendered language in discourse reflects the sexism that ingrained in American society. Gendered language is most easily studied through books and other forms of writing particularly when looking at the history of gendered discourse. Genders of popular authors, genders of characters, numbers of female to male characters, and themes of books are a few of the ways one can analyze gendered language and sexism in language. One of the ways gendered language perpetuates sexism is through the telling of women 's stories through men. An example of this is Stephan King 's novel, Carrie. While men should not refrain from writing stories from a woman 's point of view they should be careful in trying to talk about issues that mainly impact
…show more content…
In "A Latent Semantic Analysis of Gender Stereotype-Consistency and Narrowness" Alison P. Lenton, Constantine Sedikides, and Martin Bruder examine gender stereotypes in the American English language. Lenton, Sedikides, and Bruder found that "American English-speakers ' understanding of the words man, he, or him and woman, she, or her is fundamentally tied to their understanding of stereotype-relevant words" (Lenton, Sedikides, and Bruder 275). Ingrained sexism and gender roles are extremely relevant in their findings as it is seen that gender roles pervade into our understanding of words. Lenton, Sedikides, and Bruder also found that while both categories of masculine and feminine words are narrow the category of woman, she, or her is broader than the category of man, he, or him. Lenton, Sedikides, and Bruder did not discuss the ways in which American English-speakers understanding of words relates to race. Gender roles are "ideals [that] apply to white, middle-class men and women" (Fuller, 55). Therefore if American English speakers understand gender stereotyped words through women, she, or her and man, he, or him then they must also understand those gender stereotyped words through whiteness. It could also be hypothesized that American English speakers understand …show more content…
Words that represent the norm, as in gender norms and racial norms, are describes as unmarked language. An example of this is that a man who is a doctor is simply referred to as a doctor whereas it is common to refer to a woman who is a doctor as a female doctor or a woman doctor. In " 'I 'm a fireman, ' she said" Lenard Mafrica discusses the way in which we use language when discussing gendered jobs. Gendered jobs are jobs that are generally dominated by a specific gender and the general belief is that only that specific gender can enter that job field. An example of a gendered job that Mafrica discusses is nursing. When one speaks of nurses others are likely to assume that the nurse being discussed is a woman. Another example of a gendered job is roofers or any other construction type job. Roofers and construction jobs are mainly men and it is believed, in western society, that women cannot occupy such jobs due to the physical difficulties associated with it. The association of such occupations with men makes it difficult for women to enter those fields due to social stigma. It is also difficult to get women into male dominated fields because when they are younger they aren 't encouraged to pursue such fields. The lack of women in STEM fields due to that lack of encouragement is just one example. The separation of jobs into "male" jobs and "female" jobs contributes to sexism because it creates a divide
In "A Latent Semantic Analysis of Gender Stereotype-Consistency and Narrowness" Alison P. Lenton, Constantine Sedikides, and Martin Bruder examine gender stereotypes in the American English language. Lenton, Sedikides, and Bruder found that "American English-speakers ' understanding of the words man, he, or him and woman, she, or her is fundamentally tied to their understanding of stereotype-relevant words" (Lenton, Sedikides, and Bruder 275). Ingrained sexism and gender roles are extremely relevant in their findings as it is seen that gender roles pervade into our understanding of words. Lenton, Sedikides, and Bruder also found that while both categories of masculine and feminine words are narrow the category of woman, she, or her is broader than the category of man, he, or him. Lenton, Sedikides, and Bruder did not discuss the ways in which American English-speakers understanding of words relates to race. Gender roles are "ideals [that] apply to white, middle-class men and women" (Fuller, 55). Therefore if American English speakers understand gender stereotyped words through women, she, or her and man, he, or him then they must also understand those gender stereotyped words through whiteness. It could also be hypothesized that American English speakers understand …show more content…
Words that represent the norm, as in gender norms and racial norms, are describes as unmarked language. An example of this is that a man who is a doctor is simply referred to as a doctor whereas it is common to refer to a woman who is a doctor as a female doctor or a woman doctor. In " 'I 'm a fireman, ' she said" Lenard Mafrica discusses the way in which we use language when discussing gendered jobs. Gendered jobs are jobs that are generally dominated by a specific gender and the general belief is that only that specific gender can enter that job field. An example of a gendered job that Mafrica discusses is nursing. When one speaks of nurses others are likely to assume that the nurse being discussed is a woman. Another example of a gendered job is roofers or any other construction type job. Roofers and construction jobs are mainly men and it is believed, in western society, that women cannot occupy such jobs due to the physical difficulties associated with it. The association of such occupations with men makes it difficult for women to enter those fields due to social stigma. It is also difficult to get women into male dominated fields because when they are younger they aren 't encouraged to pursue such fields. The lack of women in STEM fields due to that lack of encouragement is just one example. The separation of jobs into "male" jobs and "female" jobs contributes to sexism because it creates a divide