Rachael Cummings
May 7, 2015
SBS 318-Cultural Pluralism
New Perspectives on Language and Sex
Gender and Language Bias of Media
Movie: The Giver
The media is arguably the biggest influence on peoples lives in the world today, especially on children, teens and young adults. With all of the technological advances in the last few decade’s people have all the information they could possibly need literally in the palm of their hand. These advancements have had tremendous positive effects on our world. Unfortunately, they have also had several negative effects. Technology advances have advanced the media, we now see digital billboards and almost everyone has a television or computer in their home. For people who work in the media be it magazine …show more content…
Within the plot of the movie their society made an attempt to get rid of bias through the idea of sameness. In the opening scene of the movie we learn that the people of this society “lived in a world where differences weren’t allowed” (“The Giver”). In an effort to create equality the society got rid of color, race, religion and created sameness. They also got rid of memories and emotions in order to help promote this sameness. The elders believed that when given a choice people will always make the wrong choice and for this reason choice was taken from them. For the people in this society there were five rules they were all suppose to follow. The first and most important was to speak with precise language. Each member of this society was assigned a job when they came of age, it is said that “our jobs are our purpose” the reason we were brought to this world (“The Giver”). In most cases gender stereotypes can be found in who was assigned to what position. The men were drone flyers, and police while the women were given the roles of teacher and nurturer. Going against the gender stereotypes so often seen in the work place we find that the head of the justice department and the chief elder are both women in this …show more content…
The elders in the society believe that expression of emotions leads to awareness of differences and in order to maintain sameness and equality in their eyes emotions must not be acknowledged. The limits placed on expression of emotion results in the suppression of a person’s humanness and uniqueness. This suppression of humanness is no different then the sexism women experience in the world today. While yes, times are changing women are still greatly discriminated in more ways then most realize. In her book Language and Sexism, Sara Mills discusses the concept of both overt and indirect sexism. Many people can identify overt sexism. These are the blatant ways that women are discriminated against. The sexism that many do not realize exists in indirect sexism. When discussing indirect sexism, Sara Mills states, “The fact that humor and irony are used when being sexist does not change the nature of the sexism itself, but rather simply changes the way it can be responded to”( Mills,
May 7, 2015
SBS 318-Cultural Pluralism
New Perspectives on Language and Sex
Gender and Language Bias of Media
Movie: The Giver
The media is arguably the biggest influence on peoples lives in the world today, especially on children, teens and young adults. With all of the technological advances in the last few decade’s people have all the information they could possibly need literally in the palm of their hand. These advancements have had tremendous positive effects on our world. Unfortunately, they have also had several negative effects. Technology advances have advanced the media, we now see digital billboards and almost everyone has a television or computer in their home. For people who work in the media be it magazine …show more content…
Within the plot of the movie their society made an attempt to get rid of bias through the idea of sameness. In the opening scene of the movie we learn that the people of this society “lived in a world where differences weren’t allowed” (“The Giver”). In an effort to create equality the society got rid of color, race, religion and created sameness. They also got rid of memories and emotions in order to help promote this sameness. The elders believed that when given a choice people will always make the wrong choice and for this reason choice was taken from them. For the people in this society there were five rules they were all suppose to follow. The first and most important was to speak with precise language. Each member of this society was assigned a job when they came of age, it is said that “our jobs are our purpose” the reason we were brought to this world (“The Giver”). In most cases gender stereotypes can be found in who was assigned to what position. The men were drone flyers, and police while the women were given the roles of teacher and nurturer. Going against the gender stereotypes so often seen in the work place we find that the head of the justice department and the chief elder are both women in this …show more content…
The elders in the society believe that expression of emotions leads to awareness of differences and in order to maintain sameness and equality in their eyes emotions must not be acknowledged. The limits placed on expression of emotion results in the suppression of a person’s humanness and uniqueness. This suppression of humanness is no different then the sexism women experience in the world today. While yes, times are changing women are still greatly discriminated in more ways then most realize. In her book Language and Sexism, Sara Mills discusses the concept of both overt and indirect sexism. Many people can identify overt sexism. These are the blatant ways that women are discriminated against. The sexism that many do not realize exists in indirect sexism. When discussing indirect sexism, Sara Mills states, “The fact that humor and irony are used when being sexist does not change the nature of the sexism itself, but rather simply changes the way it can be responded to”( Mills,