1. LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL CONTEXT
LANGUAGE & GENDER
PREPARED BY:
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN
Based on the article by

2. INTRODUCTION
What is SEX?
Biological category, usually fixed
before birth
What is GENDER?
Social category, associated with
certain behavior
What about SEXISM? SEXIST
LANGUAGE?
Language that represents
women and men unequally, as if
members of one sex were:
 Less complete human
 Less complex
 Had fewer rights that the members of
another sex
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

3. Can language be SEXIST against
MEN?
CONTROVERSIAL
Language surely has the ability to represent men as having
the characters mentioned in the previous slides (less fully
human and entitled to fewer rights than women)
But, the state whether that is considered as SEXIST is still
arguable
Generally, MEN still own more of the distribution of
power in the society as a whole
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

4. “Using language to diminish men gives similar effects as
using language to diminish women”
 Is that explicitly TRUE?
 HIGHLY DEBATABLE
 Let’s look at the statistic that is related to gender
inequality and decide (State of the World, 2000)
1. In developed countries, WOMEN earn 23% less than men. In
developing countries, they earn 27% less.
2. WOMEN hold only 1% of executive positions in the world’s biggest
international corporations
3. In Switzerland, Japan and Belgium, for every 100 men enrolled in the
higher education institutions there, respectively just 53%, 63% and
78% women did
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN
SO?

5. LANGUAGE USE OF WOMEN AND
MEN. HOW IS IT SEXIST?
A.Symmetry and asymmetry
B.Unmarked and marked terms
C.Semantic derogation
D.Sexism in discourse
E.Other explicit examples of sexism
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

6. SYMMETRY AND ASYMMETRY
• Symmetry = UNIFORMITY
• A clear example of symmetry can be found in
English terms for HORSES. It is a generic
term that covers animals of both sexes
• The term for HUMAN BEINGS are not so
symmetrical
• People are often confused with the use of
‘man’ generically
• Whether it means women, men, girls and boys
• Or, does it only refer to men, and not women
or children?
• Answer: NOT CONSISTENT
• Women’s status tends to be more dependent
on their attractiveness than men’s
• HOW?
Girl = Adult women
Men = Adult men
• Adult men would never be addressed as BOY
• But, when a woman is referred as a GIRL, it is
a compliment implying she is not old
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN
GENERIC HORSE
Female Mare
Male Stallion
GENERIC MAN
Female Woman
Male Man

7. • The use of title is also asymmetrical
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN
TITLE
FEMALE
• Revealing far more
information about
herself than a man
does
• Not only refers to
marital status, but,
also political
affiliations
MALE
Miss She is unmarried or chooses to
present her self as such
Mrs She is married
Ms People will assume that you are
divorced or a feminist
Mr Assumed to use the title before
the family name unless he has
another title: Dr or Judge

8. UNMARKED AND MARKED TERMS
• Unmarked terms commonly refer to
MALES
• To refer to FEMALES, the terms are
marked by adding a suffix to appear
to differ from the ‘standard’
• The marked terms are used less
nowadays
• The unmarked terms are often used
for women as well as men
HOW ARE THESE EXAMPLES
SEXIST?
• They imply that ‘normal’ people are men
• Some terms can apparently refer to both
sexes: surgeon, doctor, professor
and nurse
• But, sometimes, they are used as if they
can only be applied to one gender
• To refer to females, they use: lady
doctor or woman professor or
woman surgeon implying that the norm
is MALE
• To refer to a man who is a nurse, they
use male nurse implying that the norm
is FEMALE (Mind you, nurse is of lower
status that the other occupations
mentioned)
UNMARKED (MEN) MARKED (WOMEN)
Waiter Waitress
Host Hostess
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

9. SEMANTIC DEROGATION
• Semantic = MEANING
• Deroge = TO CAUSE TO SEEM INFERIOR
• Generally, this category refers to women acquiring demeaning or sexual connotations
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN
EXAMPLES EXPLANATION
MALE FEMALE
Gentleman or lord Lady • Lady is used in the contexts where gentleman or lord would not be
used
• In the UK, lady is commonly used to form the expression such as
Dinner lady = A woman who serves meals to schoolchildren
Lollipop lady = A woman who helps schoolchildren to cross such roads
• Men filling similar roles would not be addressed with such terms
Master Mistress • Women tend to lose status and the word ‘mistress’ refers women in a
sexual capacity
• It literally means the woman is someone’s illicit lover
• As opposed to ‘mistress’, the word ‘master’ refers to a person with
powerful position

10. Sir Madam • Both can be used to refer to high status
people
• But madam is also used to refer to a brothel
keeper, unlike sir
Bachelor Spinster or
old maid
• These 3 terms refer to an unmarried person
• Spinster and old maid, rarely used. They
imply negative connotation (Pictured as
someone old, grey, ugly and unable to get a
man)
• Bachelor has positive connotation (Described
as someone who’s succeeded in not getting
tied down)
The examples explained are all asymmetrical
They diminish women by representing them as being a property of men, having lower
status and primarily, pictured as sexual beings
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

11. SEXISM IN DISCOURSE
• Sometime, sexism is not located as a specific word, rather, in the discourse
(create meanings for the whole utterance or sentence)
• Look at these examples that show how NON-GENERIC SPECIFIC TERMS
are used to refer exclusively to MEN
a) According to disapproving church writers, the Vikings were addicted to drink, gluttony and
women
b) People in their 20s and 30s will have to work until they are 72 unless they do more now to
save for their retirement, a new report says. A worker making typical contributions to a
company pension scheme will either face a big cut in his income at 65.
• The red coloured words are the non-generic specific terms that are used to
only refer to men
• The underlined words function as additional information to disambiguate the
generic term
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

12. OTHER EXPLICIT EXAMPLES OF SEXISM
• Direct insults or other remarks which
make inequality explicit, aimed at
women rather than men
• Far more words to describe immoral
women than men (harsher and less
funny)
• Use women’s sexual organ to insult
• Examples:
We get to see beautiful actresses
and interesting actors
i. Greater emphasis on women’s looks
and men’s personalities
ii. How is this not sexist?
She (Selina Scott) made Angela
Rippon and Anna Ford look like a
couple of sock-knitting crones
i. This is the comparison of 3 British
television presenters, the title of the
article: Selina still has star quality
ii. Scott is regarded as more successful
because she is more attractive
iii. Stereotype of old women is invoked
(sock-knitting) to describe how ugly and
old Rippon and Ford are to the author
iv. Do you find similar assessment of male
presenters with the judgement of looks
and stereotype of old men?
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

13. SO, SEXISM AGAINST MEN?
• Alternative suggestions for ‘toy
boy’:
HRT (Husband
Replacement Therapy)
Juvenile Lead
GIBBET (Good in Bed
but Extremely
Temporary)
Little Soldier
POW (Prefers Older
Woman)
Homelette
Mantress Boncubine
Ego Booster Beddyboy
Bimboy Honkybonk
Game Boy Himbo
Does it have similar effects as in
sexism against women?
• Sexism affects everyone
• The degree might be different
• Not fair to account for a general
judgement only based on this
example of obscenity
• HIGHLY DEBATABLE due to the
social power
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

14. DO WOMEN AND MEN TALK DIFFERENTLY?
1. AMOUNT OF TIME • STEREOTYPES tell that women talk
far more than men
• Women’s talks are often referred as
gossip, chatter, nag and rabbit
• Plentiful but pointless
• REALLY?
• In a mixed-sex conversation, the
average amount of time for which a
MAN talks is twice as long than
WOMAN’S
2. TURN
CONSTRUCTION &
INTERRUPTION
• Men interrupt women so much
because they believe they have more
right than women to speak in mixed-
sex conversation
• Women, in the single-sex
conversation overlap one another’s
talk
• Overlapping is different than
interruptions
• Shows that women value cooperation
and collaboration in conversation
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN
3. BACK CHANNEL
SUPPORT
• Women are more active in being
the back channel supports
(supporting roles) than men do
• Refers to the verbal and non-verbal
feedback listeners give to speakers
• Examples: ‘mmm’,’uhh’, ‘yeah’, ‘I
know right’, nodding and smiling
• Women know when to slip in and
offer back channel support in
conversation, as opposed to men
4. MITIGATED &
AGGRAVATED FORMS
• Women use more hedges (dilute
the assertion) and epistemic modal
forms (speaker’s attitude to the
utterance) than men
• Hedges: sort of, like, I think and
kind of
• Epistemic modal forms: should,
would, could, may and might
• Women are less confident, they’re
not sure to assert anything too
strongly
• To avoid confrontation

15. 5. TOPIC DISCUSSION
• Women select more personal topics
- Family, emotions and friendships
• In contrast, men prefer more impersonal topic (based on factual or
technical ledge)
- Football, cars or home improvements
• Women’s conversations focused on the development and
maintenance of the relationship between speakers, raised by the
exchange of intimate details and supportive listening
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

16. WHY IS IT DIFFERENT?
Dominance Theory
• Difference in power between men and women
• Main cause of discoursal distinction
• Men tend to have more power than women (physical, finance and in
workplace hierarchies)
• Our speech may be a reflection of the material differences between sexes
• Women are normally perceived as powerless victims
• Men, on the other hand, as undermining, excluding and demeaning
women
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

17. Difference Theory
• Women and men develop different styles of talking due to the segregation
at important stages of their lives (Deborah Tannen, 1990 & 1991)
• They were brought up in the single-sex groups and were familiarized with
certain rules of behavior including talking:
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN
MEN WOMEN
• Place a greater premium on STATUS
• More independent
• Less concerned about overt
disagreement of inequality in their
relationship
• Desire collaboration from their
relationship
• Intimate
• Demand equality, understanding,
support and approval

18. • Within their own subcultural group (female-female) & (male-
male), their conversational norms work well
• Their different styles lead to misunderstandings in mixed-sex
interaction
• How is it linked to biological factors?
 MEN are more aggressive than WOMEN
 Due to men’s different hormonal balance
• How is it linked to socialization?
 Boys are praised for being active and spirited
 Girls should be polite, and put the needs of others before
their own
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN

19. CONCLUSION
• To see whether the language use of men and women depicts sexism, we have
covered the examples and explanations in the 5 aspects:
Symmetry and asymmetry
Unmarked and marked terms
Semantic derogation
Sexism in discourse
Other explicit examples of sexism
• The representations of gender influence the way we perceive the world
• The explanation presented evident that everyone is affected by sexism, but,
whether the effects are similar is still greatly arguable
KHAIRUNNADIAH BT MOHD SAMUDDIN