Sara Mills Language And Sex

While reading “Gender,” an essay by Jack Halberstam, the topic of sexism was brought to the forefront of my mind. It has been brought up more often in conversation in the modern era, issues such as how a few cruel insults pertain to female reproductive anatomy and, in a sense, degrade females and ultimately identify them, as well as femininity, as inherently “bad”. Such a thought stemmed from how Halberstam touches on the “problematic stabilization of the meaning of ‘women’ and ‘female’”: meaning there is no room for argument when it comes to your gender—you’re either a girl or not. You either fit into a strict mold, or you do not.

Podcasts in the true crime genre have a way of keeping their listeners hooked into their stories. In Serial, Sarah Koenig presents her journey in a way that keeps the listener in suspense, making their imagination running wild with many possibilities, and in the end making them come back for more. Similar to Koenig, podcasts made by Payne Lindsey, Phoebe Judge, and Marc Smerling have the same effect on their listeners when it comes to their investigations. All these hosts have managed to make these cases into interactive experiences that people can now immerse themselves in, making them feel as if they are junior detectives on the case. True crime podcasts achieve this result through the use of sounds effects and music, along with detailed research, and an unbiased style of narrating.

Sexism: the belief or attitude that one sex is inherently superior to, more competent than, or more valuable than the other (most commonly used for male superiority). This idea that women are weak is not a new one in the modern world. It has been studied for countless years along with the concept of a patriarchal society. A patriarchy is defined as a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. Such systems currently exist in several forms and areas around the world; however, the most common place for these patriarchies is in literature. Novels, plays, works of nonfiction, and other forms of literature have shown to either “reinforce or undermine the

"Gender Stereotyping in the English Language" written by Laurel Richardson in 2003, Richardson argues people use the English language in such a way that limits, depreciates and ultimately dehumanizes women . Richardson develops and supports this theory by proposing the notion that historically, women have not only been limited by the terms used to describe them, but women are raised to think they must be confined to subservient jobs,  that customarily require less skill. Richardson's purpose through writing this article is to highlight an issue often overlooked, in order to promote the appropriate and equitable use of the English Language. The author intends for this principle to be turned into practice among women, men and children developing linguistic habits.

Gender equality was not shown very much in she’s the man. Viola has to act like her brother because she was not treated fairly when they wouldn’t let her on the boys soccer team. Today women are still not fairly treated fairly treated today. Such as in many karaty places where the girl is shown as the weaker sex and not given the same workout as the boys. Also in high school girls aren’t aloud to play on the varsity football team because the are seen as weaker.

Throughout the years, history has tried to examine how gender roles have changed over time and views of how women should be have changed. However there are many examples of current stereotypes of women that linger in today's society.

Another interesting statement I would like to bring to the surface is Alvarez writes in her book that “boys are born men but girls turn into women” (72). This made me think of the BBC YouTube clip we watched in class. Within this video a mother, father, and daughter are getting prepared for their daughters sweet fifteen. One of the first things I recognized in this film was that the father a male was speaking about and for the females when they were in the same room as them listening to what he had to say. This is a problem in itself as the male voices his and silences the women, in addition, he is speaking on a subject that he does not even fully understand, women. For arguments sake a women would never speak about a man and what it means to be one. This power dynamic within this family is troubling and shows the dominance of one gender over

The position of women in the novel is not respected or honored because women are oppressed in a way. Women were not able to vote, own property, or get a proper education. It was made so that the women

I found that gendered/sexed language, mainly the concept of language as an oppressor, to be helpful in creating a critical gendered lens. Concepts like semantic derogation, semantic imbalance, trivialization, and lack of vocabulary all outline the fact that language is completely gendered/sexed and unequal. Language can be used as a power source, both positively and negatively. It can be used to put others down, whether it’s through the use of derogatory terms or even just through the ways certain people speak and are spoken

One example of this is in the story the teacher of the class is finally shown and is a woman (Shannon 14). This is a gender stereotype because when someone thinks of an elementary school teacher is usually thought of as a woman. Another reason this story is sexist towards woman is throughout the entire story girls are shown always being polite, nice, and following directions (Shannon 1-15). This is an example of this story being sexist because it displays girls all as the weaker sex by standing down in aggressiveness compared to

On this site, there is an article called, “What Are Gender Roles and Stereotypes,” which goes over gender stereotypes along with providing definitions and examples of men and women who have had stereotypes against them. At the beginning of the article it talks about gender roles, which are roles that are given to people based on their gender that dictate how they should act. For example, if you were a male, you are expected to be strong aggressive, and be in charge of the household, while if you are female you are expected to act feminine and be

Sexism is still embedded in the fiber of contemporary culture. However, to further explore the ways in which sexism is intertwined with culture, it is first necessary to define culture. For the purposes of this investigation, culture refers to the corporate environment and forms of employment, as well as the different entertainment industries and canonical literary texts that are endorsed in schools and the greater society. Although not necessarily a product of culture, this paper also investigates the possibility that there is inherent sexism that manifests through

Through out the third section of the book Gone Girl (Flynn,2011) my main focus was analysing the authors use of language. Gillian Flynn uses a strong choice of vocabulary to make her writing more effective. As well as Literary devices such as Metaphors and imagery. First of all, Gillian Flynn used strong vocabulary to add to her writing which would catch the readers eye because she caught mine. One of the words Gillian Flynn used was OBLIVION.

This is seen in two ways; the first is interpersonal interactions, and the second is representations of men and women in that are embedded in form and content of language. For example Cameron (1992) found that women are referred to by their first name as well as terms of endearment such as ‘love’ and ‘dear’. It shows that language and representations are closely linked and that language holds representation of ideas in clichés, epithets etc. It has also been represented that a women’s experience is systematically devalued in comparison to that of the male norm. Weitz (2003) has highlighted that throughout history women’s bodies have centrally affected the structures within which women live. Females are described as passive, for example Mother Nature. Objects such as cars and boats are mostly deemed female and temperamental and are also dominated by males. English language reflects the power that men have historically held in many areas of life. The sexist language against women shows them in lower social and economic status. An example of this is nouns ending in ‘ess’ e.g. waitress, stewardess, these are then seen as less significant than their male equivalents. This also applies to the suffix ‘ette’ this is giving feminine status to objects such as cigarette, this shows inferiority. Some studies have shown that individuals who do not believe in traditional sex stereotypical roles are less likely to write an educational essay using sexist language (McMinn, Lindsay,

Gender stereotypes surface from an early age, from the toys we’re told to play with as children to the type of behaviors we’re encouraged to display. These stereotypes paint an over generalized picture of the population to which they pertain to. They can be very damaging to a person especially when they are imposed on people who fall outside of the norm of the stereotype. One stereotype for example, is that men do not face rape or other domestic violence.