A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
5. Gender
Sexist Language and Assumptions
SOME of the most interesting changes that have taken place in the English language over the last 30 years have been driven by the desire to avoid, if not banish, sexism in the language. This reform movement is noteworthy for its differences from most previous reform movements, which have usually been inspired by a desire for English to be more logical or more efficient in expression. Historically, most proposed language reforms are ignored and end in failure. The few reforms that have become standard include the ban on ain’t and the double negative, along with a scattering of “more rational” or simpler spellings like primeval, rime, tenor, and theater.
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But the reforms involving gender are explicitly political in intent and represent a quest for social justice rather than a wish for more consistent logic. And unlike other political language reforms, which tend to be limited to individual names for ethnic groups, gender reforms involve basic grammatical components like pronouns, basic grammatical rules like pronoun agreement, and basic words like man, father, male and female. Some of these elements have been in the language for over a thousand years. It is not surprising, therefore, that the effort to undo them can often be a difficult and untidy business.
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Despite this, the movement to reduce sexism in English has been remarkably successful by historical standards. Whether you agree with these efforts or not, there is no denying that they are widespread both in speech and in writing. A glance at any newspaper or five minutes in front of the television news will produce evidence to show that people are changing their language to accommodate concerns about fairness to both sexes. It is undeniable that large numbers of men and women are uncomfortable using constructions that have been criticized for being sexist. Since there is little to be gained by offending people in your audience, it makes sense to educate yourself about the issues involved and to try to accommodate at least some of these concerns.
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Even if you are not convinced of the need for reforms to reduce gender bias, you ought to recognize that the use of language that has been called out as sexist can sometimes lead to ambiguity. Using a term like policemen, for instance, may leave your readers wondering whether you are excluding women police officers from the discussion or whether you are tacitly allowing policemen to stand for the entire police force. You owe it to your readers to be clear.
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Of course, not everyone perceives sexist language the same way. People have different levels of sensitivity on these matters, and you must find a level that suits you. Some people are comfortable using generic he but avoid the generic use of compounds ending in -man. Some people find compounds using master- to be sexist and avoid using the term fellow, as in fellow colleagues, to refer to women. Practice in these matters is mixed, and it would behoove us all to acknowledge the difficulty inherent in many of these usages and to agree to disagree.
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Finally, it is important to remember that avoiding sexist terms and constructions is no guarantee that what you have written will be free of gender bias. Sexist stereotypes, such as the assumption that all nurses are women or that all executives are men, can seem like the status quo—the way the world “is”—especially when you are distracted by a deadline or concerned about some other feature of your writing, such as its organization or its tone. Sexist assumptions can be insidious. A headline that reads Allegations Embroil Financier and Woman may seem innocuous at first, but if the article shows the woman to be a financier as well, you have to wonder about the politics of the headline editor, who has assumed that a financier must naturally be a man and that a woman’s professional status is somehow not worth mentioning.
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The trouble with gender bias is that it often takes real effort to uncover it, even in your own writing, and you have to train yourself to look for it. You can begin by reading the following entries.
