The Relationship Between Gender and Language

According to the journal Caring or Daring? Exploring the impact of facial masculinity/femininity and gender category information on first impressions, : “Facial information alone is often not sufficient for gender categorization. Especially women lacking extra-facial features such as hairstyle, jewelry or clothing tend to be misclassified as men” (Walker & Wänke, 2017, p. 2). Also, advertising and fashion is a way to show girls what kind of clothes they should wear and to tell them they have to follow the trends (Jackson & Vares, 2015, p. 352). When Shania sings “Men’s shirts, short skirts, really go wild, doing it in style […] colour my hair, do what I dare […] man, I feel like a woman!”, she’s saying that she can and will wear whatever she wants and that she won’t let gender norms determine how she looks. She adds that she feels like a woman, showing that it doesn’t make her less of a woman. Consequently, “Man, I feel like a woman!” goes against the pressure put on girls concerning the way they look by telling them that they don’t have to conform to society’s standards when it comes to their physical

There are a number of societal concepts that have changed over time, these changes are clearly exhibited when comparing the culture of Puberty Blues to my own. One of these concepts is gender roles. In the film, gender roles are clearly defined, masculinity and femininity are two completely different sociatel constructs that must be followed. Gender roles provide the basis for the status quo, where boys are in charge and served by girls who are used and policed by boys.

In “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls,” Pollitt writes about the differences between growing up as a boy growing up as a girl. She brings up the stereotypes that society naturally creates between genders in early ages, which leads to the lifestyle and path that boys and girls are raised in. Parents and feminist alike play a big part in establishing these sex roles. They raise their kids wanting them to be successful at what they are expected to be good at based on their gender and the trend that has been set before them.

Neither child has an interest in the work of their parent of the same gender; Laird runs off to play instead of helping with the foxes, and the narrator escapes from the kitchen the first chance she gets (Munro 495). Later in the story, however, Laird begins to take an interest in the men’s work of hunting and killing the horse, and the narrator, while not yet embracing the work of her mother, is disengaging herself from her father’s work and turning toward the more feminine work of decorating her room. Neither of them sing songs anymore, even though the narrator continued to enjoy it, Laird said it “sounded silly,” so she stopped (Munro 501); this is an example of both Laird becoming more masculine, because he no longer wants to take part in frivolous things such as singing “Jingle Bells” at night, and the narrator becoming more feminine, because she so easily bows to her brother’s opinion. Laird has started to accept the role of “leader” instead of just being “young and obedient,” (Munro 499) and the narrator is taking other people’s opinions into consideration when deciding her actions, instead of just doing whatever she wants to do.

The tone of this song is hopeful. It tells women of all ages to stay true to themselves, even when everyone else around them is changing. This is mostly relatable to teenagers attending high school. In the song it says, “Hold on to your innocence, stand your ground when everyone’s giving in”. During high school, children are introduced to various new things, such as: drugs, sex, and alcohol. It is the students’ personal choice whether to give in to these new additions or not, but the song suggests they stand up even when everyone else around them has given in. The song has three stanzas with four lines. The rhyme scheme is grouped into pairs, rhyming the first two lines and the last two lines in each stanza. Rhyming two consecutive lines can make the song easier to remember. “This One’s for the Girls” is extremely catchy, not only by its meaning, but also its rhyme scheme. It makes an imprint on one’s brain.

The simple language and repetition of the phrase “I want” gives a lighthearted, childlike tone at the beginning of the poems. Yet, as the poems progress, the childlike innocence fades as the young girls grow to become young women. In the last stanza of A song in the Front Yard, the speaker expresses that she’d “like to a bad woman, too. And wear the brave stocking of night-black lace and strut down the streets with paint on my face” (Brooks). The speaker wants to have the seemingly carefree and free life that is available to those in the lower class. This parallels events in Recitatif when Twyla and Roberta reunite after years of being apart. While Twyla works at a restaurant, Twyla describes Roberta as having “on a powder-blue halter and shorts outfit and earring the size of bracelets. Talk about lipstick and eyebrow pencil. She made the big girls look like nuns.” Roberta defiantly goes against social norms with her dress as well as going to see Jimi Hendrix, a symbol of the rebellious counterculture of the

Only giving the names of the boys that she’s encountered implies that she places more value on them than herself and that the focus on her relationships was mainly on the boy she was with at the time. However, the way she described what she did with these boys made it seem like they didn 't matter at all. From an outsider’s point of view, it may appear as if the men are in control. From an introspective view, she was simply using them for her own personal reasons.

Date rape becomes evident numerous times throughout this tune, when thicke repeats, “you know you want it” this phrase suggests that all girls want is sex, and that even if a girl says no, it actuals means yes. It is also used by sexual predators, to justify their actions Thicke further sings “ but you’re an animal, baby its in your nature”, this lines suggests that girls cannot be tamed; unable to act as human beings but rather animals that are superior to men. Thicke further sings “ just let me liberate you, you don’t need no papers, that man is not your maker”, this lyric suggests that he wants them to be true to their nature, wants them to be wild, free for sexual favours. In this lyric when thicke states ‘ man is not your maker’in itself

Pregnancy is gendered by only a female being able to get pregnant. It is also gendered by having sex and getting pregnant against one’s own will. In the song, Brenda is a 12 year old girl who ends up getting pregnant by her cousin and falls in love with a molester because she thinks he cares about her and loves her. This shows her as well as any female being victimized by being taken advantage of because she is a young.

The unique structure of the lyrics offers a compelling and fresh approach to a ballad song. The verse of the lyrics touches on the man’s freedom and the chorus responds to these actions. This creates an ironic contrast of gender roles in relationships because it memorably moves listeners to feel the absurdity of gender stereotypes. In the verse of the song, the speaker states that boys are able to “drink beer with the guys and chase after girls kick it with who I wanted and never get confronted for it cause they’d stick up for me (lines 5-9)” implying a sense of authority and freedom guys possess. In this case, the speaker is suggesting typical guy hobbies as getting drunk and flirting with other girls. To make matters worse, the guy is able to get away with cheating and flirting because he knows his friends would never rat him out so there would never be confrontation. The guy is clearly incompatible with the speaker and completely oblivious to her feelings. Meanwhile the chorus responds to these actions by stating, “I swear I’d be a better man I’d listen to her cause I know how it hurts (13-15).” Here, the speaker is voicing that she would treat her significant other respectfully if she were the man in the relationship. As a girl, the female speaker understands the pain of one-sided relationships and empathizes with women who have been emotionally abused by their inattentive and unfaithful partner. Further down the lyrics, the speaker saids, “Say it’s just a mistake, think I’d forgive you like that If you thought I would wait for you, you thought wrong. (37-40).” This particular line of the bridge provides a powerful contrast to the lines earlier because the tables have turned and the speaker has resolved to leave her partner. She acknowledges her mistake in allowing him to take advantage of

“Here’s the tricky thing about language, it lies about how powerful it is. When I used those words I felt subversive, naughty, strong. I did not realise how these songs, these words, were not ways for me to reclaim my feminine power. In fact, they silenced

Language and Woman’s Place is by Robin Lakoff which is accompanied by several commentaries. She was one of the earlier innovative writers that attempted to propel women far enough to gain equality during the woman’s rights movement specifically in the 2nd wave of feminism. She made several interesting on society and the importance of language because the selection of language that is used could effectively make society unilaterally unequal. This is because certain words belittle and often seize power, but that is dependent on the context and connotation, for example being over polite or not using the norm when it is culturally appropriate. Although she wanted to elevate women, the sample she focused on were part of the more represented section

Deborah Tannen is an author and linguistic professor who wrote, “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently.” Tannen’s article discusses the differences of males and females in the classroom. Men and women are more comfortable with different types of conversation, and this fact affects conversation in the classroom. Males enjoy challenging each other. Women, however, prefer to have small groups of close friends. They like intimate environments where they do not feel judged. Tannen believes that the education system is better suited towards men, because they are more comfortable speaking in large groups and being the center of attention. Women are more likely to fear

The song was intended as a guide to what actions are appropriate for females for them to be labeled “good

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,