A QUICK OVERVIEW OF INGRAINED SEXISM WITHIN MODERN LANGUAGE

Becca Gill (OHS)

Nowadays, there are continuous issues being brought up by members of society with the purpose of being corrected and changed to as far an extent as possible. With more awareness for these specific topics of discourse, there is more of an effort being undertaken to make a difference. However certain areas are closely interrelated to traditional values and change is not so easy.

We are all likely to be familiar with some of these phrases, whether we are properly conscious of their meaning or not when using them or instead we just see them as almost metaphorical.

For example, the phrase ‘to man up’ meaning to become less weak and/or scared (although it is rather unsubtly implied to demonstrate a need to become less like a female).

Another instance is the phrase; ‘Man and wife.’ Portraying the woman in the relationship as the only one needing to change due to being wed and makes the male of the relationship seem instantly more important and is depicted as the person who is in charge for every couple. This is also reflected in the use of ‘Ms’ and ‘Mrs’, a change in title to show whether a woman is married or not. However, one may notice that there is no alternative for this for males and they can be expected to remain as ‘Mr’ for their entire lives.

It may be interesting to note that many of these English expressions are more colloquial and have been made rather recently in the formation of language, although those who use them may not insert too much consideration into their word usage. This perhaps shows that the intent behind these phrases are not to offend, but in any case, it demonstrates in a new way the ingrained sexism towards women that is still very much prevalent within today’s society.

This is, of course, is not the only example of this happening in a modern language. Another instance of this occurs in the Russian language, specifically the verbs meaning to marry;

жениться [zhenit’sya] - a word used for describing a man or more literally meaning to be wifed.

замуж [zamoojh] - the alternative for women which literally translates to behind the husband. It is interesting to see that a lot of these examples directly link to marriage and hold the value that a woman becomes her husband’s property once they have been wed. Some, who are against change, may claim that this is down to the fact that for many cultures and religions, weddings are a holy or traditional thing which should not be altered. Whilst others simply say that language should not hold as deep a value, perhaps to attempt to excuse this ingrained sexism. For the case of the Russian language, this fault does not lie so much with the current generation (although the usage of these words perhaps reaches a higher frequency than in English) but more so with previous societies in the past when these terms were created.

To bring this brief discussion to a close, in general, women are shown to represent weakness, moodiness and even submissive whilst men show strength and power. These examples largely appear to feature in those languages which contain gender in terms of grammar that some believe have not been modernised but the English language is still not innocent despite not including as established a gender system. Therefore, I feel as though there needs to be some way of modernising these expressions whilst still respecting the language and the cultural influences it may have experienced to shape itself into what it is.

Bibliography

Elizabeth Arif-Fair, (2018). Examples of Sexism in the English Language, Voice of Salam

Рымарь, А. И. (2020). The Phenomenon Of Sexism In The English And Russian Languages. Модели И Методы Повышения Эффективности Инновационных, 64.

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