Language plays an important role in society. In large extent it is a mirror of it while at the same time it functions as means of constructing and maintaining that society. As a phenomenon of society, language reflects all the perspectives of human society. Sexism in language has been a controversial topic in sociolinguists since its inception. In this chapter, a historical overview will be made and definitions will be provided.
Sexism in language exists when language devalues members of a certain gender. Sexist language has many definitions but for the sake of this essay the following definition will be used: ‘[a statement] is sexist if its use constitutes, promotes or exploits an unfair or irrelevant or impertinent distinction between the …show more content…
Spender's work highlighted an important avenue for feminist action: to ensure that women are involved in all facets of language and communication. Recording women's views and disseminating accounts of their experiences are important strategies for ensuring equitable and accurate representation of women in texts. The importance of being involved with developments in language and communication was discussed in Spender's (1995) more recent work on gender issues and the internet. Spender argued that women must be involved as users and innovators of the world wide web; otherwise it will develop to serve and promote men's interests over women's. Spender's (1980) work attended to the powerfulness of those who can exercise some degree of control over language. People with public speaking rights, those who record and communicate ideas, and the information-rich are all in a position to exercise some power over language ± to use the power of language and communication to promote particular social and cultural beliefs and suppress others. However, language is not just a tool for manipulating meaning, nor merely a vessel for the containment of ideas. Another source of power is …show more content…
Lakoff (1973) argued against campaigns to change the language because she thought that language change followed social change and not the reverse. However, if it could be shown that sexist language not only reflected sexism but helped to perpetuate it, then a stronger case could be made against its use. Social psychologists made an important contribution to campaigns for sexist language reform by providing empirical evidence that certain features of language do encourage a cognitive bias against women (e.g. Crawford and English, 1984; Wilson and Ng, 1988). The theoretical perspective used to explain the impact of sexist language on thought and behavior was Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf's theory of linguistic relativity, where language provides people with their guide to social reality (Whorf,
Sexism in language exists when language devalues members of a certain gender. Sexist language has many definitions but for the sake of this essay the following definition will be used: ‘[a statement] is sexist if its use constitutes, promotes or exploits an unfair or irrelevant or impertinent distinction between the …show more content…
Spender's work highlighted an important avenue for feminist action: to ensure that women are involved in all facets of language and communication. Recording women's views and disseminating accounts of their experiences are important strategies for ensuring equitable and accurate representation of women in texts. The importance of being involved with developments in language and communication was discussed in Spender's (1995) more recent work on gender issues and the internet. Spender argued that women must be involved as users and innovators of the world wide web; otherwise it will develop to serve and promote men's interests over women's. Spender's (1980) work attended to the powerfulness of those who can exercise some degree of control over language. People with public speaking rights, those who record and communicate ideas, and the information-rich are all in a position to exercise some power over language ± to use the power of language and communication to promote particular social and cultural beliefs and suppress others. However, language is not just a tool for manipulating meaning, nor merely a vessel for the containment of ideas. Another source of power is …show more content…
Lakoff (1973) argued against campaigns to change the language because she thought that language change followed social change and not the reverse. However, if it could be shown that sexist language not only reflected sexism but helped to perpetuate it, then a stronger case could be made against its use. Social psychologists made an important contribution to campaigns for sexist language reform by providing empirical evidence that certain features of language do encourage a cognitive bias against women (e.g. Crawford and English, 1984; Wilson and Ng, 1988). The theoretical perspective used to explain the impact of sexist language on thought and behavior was Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf's theory of linguistic relativity, where language provides people with their guide to social reality (Whorf,