Feminist Stylistic

Sara Mills

Feminist Stylistic

SHEHAR BANO

Group # 2

• Shehar Bano Roll # 03• Gull E Rukh Qureshi Roll # • Nayab Ali Roll # 26• Anum Sarfraz Roll # 27• Mommal Shabir Roll #

Sexism in Language

•Mary Vetterling Braggin• A statement is a sexist if it

contributes to, encourages or causes or results in women oppression.

Generic Pronouns

• ‘He’• He-man language.• Mackey: so called generic he is

confusing.• Gender specific nouns are often used

in a sexist way to refer people.

Generic Nouns

• MANkind• Man is a mammal which breastfeeds his

young.• Replacement of man with person.• Salesman• Use of prefix and affix• The word ‘gentleman’.

Woman as a Marked form

• Female is shown as the marked term whereas male is shown as the un-marked term.• Lady is used to refer a woman• Lady poet, lady doctor etc.

Gender Free Language

• Use of plural pronoun.• Use of s/he.• Passivize.• Use of female pronoun as generic.• Use of male pronoun as generic.• Use of alternative pronouns.

Language Determinism

• Difference is structure of the languages determine the different views society has in world. E.g. snow.

• A language responds to the needs of community.

• Language produces our perception of the world.

• Our thought system is influenced by the language.

Wendy Martyna

Researched the extent to which women feel excluded by the use of the male pronoun ‘he’ as a generic reference to both male and female.

Sandra BemReports studies where sex un-biased job advertisements have been found to encourage more high school females to apply for male related jobs.

Sexist Language

• Is that language use, conscious or unconscious on the part of speaker, which may alienate females (and males).

• Language choices that we have do impact on how we view the world.

• Sexist language dispute raged in 1960’s and 1970’s.• Language is not simply for the communication of

ideas but also for the creation and maintenance of environment.

Robin Lakoff

Sexism in language simply reflects sexism within the society and is a symptom rather than a cause.

Sarah Shute

• People cannot help to eliminate sexism merely by ‘TALK’, by replacing terms with other terms, but only by “ACTIONS”.

Mike Bygrave

• Those who accuse others of sexism are speaking as if their own language use was ‘purified’ and above approach.

Fyre

• To accuse a person of being sexist is to accuse him of certain false beliefs, and in some cases of having tendencies to certain reprehensible behavior presumed to be related one way or another to such beliefs.

Casey Miler and Kate Swift

• They see sexist language as symptomatic of large scale discrimination, but most sexism is unintentional and thus reform is possible.

Mary Daly

Dale Spender

Mary Daly and Dale Spender

• They see sexist language as a ‘causal factor’ in women’s oppression. Language is very important element in the formation of our world view. • E.g.. By Spender ‘Motherhood’• Language is controlled by men.

Cameron

• In order to change sexist language it is not enough to reform the language use of individuals whom you meet; the change has to be at institutional level, at the level of ‘gatekeepers of language’.

The semantic derogation of women

• There are contrasting pair of words used in English language.• One male specific other female

specific.• Female term has connotative

meaning different from male term.

Camron

• Many languages have underlying semantic or grammatical rule where male is positive and female is negative.

• master_ mistress• Host_ hostess• Adventurer_ adventuress• Sir_ madam• Courtier_ courtesan• Lord_ lady

Comparison

Master, Sir, Bachelor, Lord

PowerPrestigeBachelor is positive

connotation of freedom.Cleaning lord is not

possible

Mistress, Madam, Sinster, lady

SexualNon prestigious meaning.Insulting meaning of old

maid.Too ugly to find a husband1960’s bachelor girl was

introduced.Cleaning lady, lollipop lady.

• We buy man sized tissues• We eat man sized portions.• Mr. Muscle and Mr. Clean as cleaning fluids.• This shows man are stronger, bigger and better.• Don’t be such a woman• Weak, tearful and fussy