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Gender-neutral language (gender-generic, gender-inclusive, non-sexist, or sex-neutral language) is language that attempts to refer neither to males nor females when discussing an abstract or hypothetical person whose sex cannot otherwise be determined. Though English, unlike other Indo-European languages, does not have a system of grammatical gender for nouns in general, it still uses gender-specific pronouns. Gender-neutral language in English includes but is not limited to the use of gender-neutral pronouns. The shield and spear of the Roman God Mars are often used to represent the male sex In heterogamous species, male is the sex of an organism, or of a part of an organism, which typically produces smaller, mobile gametes (spermatozoa) that are able to fertilise female gametes (ova). ...
The mirror of the Roman Goddess Venus is often used to represent the female sex. ...
Abstraction is the process of reducing the information content of a concept, typically in order to retain only information which is relevant for a particular purpose. ...
A hypothesis is a suggested explanation of a phenomenon or reasoned proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena. ...
Look up Sex in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The gender-specific pronouns of a language distinguish between male and female people (and often of animals as well). ...
In non-sexist language, gender-neutral or epicene pronouns neither reveal nor imply sex or gender when referring to people, animals or things. ...
Examples
One might state, "Tomorrow I will meet my new doctor; I hope he is friendly."; however, unless one is certain that the new doctor is a man, advocates of gender-neutral language generally argue that it would be better to state, "Tomorrow I will meet my new doctor, who I hope is friendly".
Critics argue that this creates an undue burden on the speaker by forcing a change to the structure of the sentence, with the result often being rather awkward. They would cite the above example as a case in point, as it seems rather contrived, since non-defining relative clauses are extremely rare in everyday speech. (Colloquially speaking, the speech given in this example would often be described as sounding like the speaker was "talking like a book". In casual conversation, a person would be more likely to use the first example, or to say "Tomorrow I will meet my new doctor; I hope they're friendly". This is use of the singular they as a gender-neutral pronoun.) A literary language is a register of a language that is used in writing, and which often differs in lexicon and syntax from the language used in speech. ...
Singular they, sometimes called epicene they, is the usage in the English language of the gender-neutral third-person plural pronoun they and its inflected forms — they, them, their, theirs, themselves (or themself) — to refer to a single person, often of indeterminate sex, as for example in: Have you ever...
A business might advertise that it is looking for a new chair or chairperson, rather than chairman, which gender-neutral language advocates feel would imply that only a man would be acceptable for the position. Some advocates of gender-neutral language see it as unobjectionable to use gender-specific terms provided they are equally applied. For instance (continuing the example), one could refer to a male in such a position as a chairman, provided that a female would be referred to by the equivalent term chairwoman. Others claim, however, that the sex of the occupant of the chair is irrelevant and thus chairperson or chair are the only acceptable terms. (It is perhaps worth noting that traditionally the term chairman has explicitly included females, such a person being addressed as Madam Chairman rather than Mr Chairman.)
Common positions Views among advocates of gender-neutral language are spread over a wide range, from passionate argumentation in favour, to consistent use in their own speech and writing, to occasional use. However, most people simply decide for themselves whether or not to use it in their writing.
A great many people have no opinion on gender-neutral language and make no special effort to avoid what advocates may describe as sexist language. However, many terms advocated or proposed by advocates of gender-neutral language, such as "firefighter" or "he or she", have entered the common lexicon (in some cases, before advocacy of gender-neutral language began), and may be used by those who do not have any particular feeling about the subject.
Still others regard gender-neutral language as revisionist, as promoting poor or heavy writing, excessively "politically correct", or simply a cosmetic change that does nothing to actually repel sexism. They may consciously refuse to use forms of speech advocated by promoters of gender-neutral language. Political correctness is the alteration of language to redress real or alleged injustices and discrimination or to avoid offense. ...
Some advocates of gender-neutral language do not consider the argument of sexism. Instead, they believe the language should be neutral to make it more aesthetically pleasing: asymmetry in the usage of genders makes the language ugly.
History Many of the masculine terms in Modern English come from gender neutral words in Old English. For example, the word mann was gender-neutral in Old English (though grammatically masculine) and could be used to refer to any adult human. For gender-specific usage, "wer" could be used to mean "man", and "wíf" to mean "woman". Since then, "man" replaced "wer" as the primary word referring to male persons, while also preserving its original gender-neutral meaning (people), especially in compounds such as mankind. Meanwhile, the word "woman" (from "wífman", grammatically feminine) replaced "wíf" as the word for female person. The word human is from Latin humanus, the adjectival form of homo. Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...
Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ...
Latin is an ancient Indo-European language. ...
During the 19th century, attempts to overlay Latin grammar rules onto English required the use of feminine endings in nouns ending with -or. This produced words like doctress and professress and even lawyeress, all of which have faded from use; though waitress, stewardess, and actress persist. Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ...
Belief in social effects of language was largely a 20th century phenomenon in the English-speaking world, and has been linked to the development of the concept of politically-correct language and the principle of linguistic relativity by Benjamin Whorf and others. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
Definitions of the Anglosphere vary: one definition (depicted, all in blue) includes two node countries – the United Kingdom and the United States – and five outliers: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa. ...
Political correctness is the alteration of language to redress real or alleged injustices and discrimination or to avoid offense. ...
The principle of linguistic relativity is Benjamin Whorfs theory of the way in which an individuals thoughts are influenced by the language(s) they have available to express them. ...
Benjamin Lee Whorf (April 24, 1897 – July 26, 1941) was an American linguist. ...
Criticism and disputed issues There are a wide range of disputed issues in the debate over 'non-sexist language'. Are there inherently sexist language forms, and if so, what are they? If they exist, should they be changed? If they should be changed, how should this be achieved?
Are some uses of language inherently sexist? Some advocates of gender-neutral language, including many feminists, argue that traditional language fails to reflect the presence of women in society adequately. In general, they complain about a number of issues: Feminism is a diverse collection of social theories, political movements, and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerned with the experiences of women. ...
- Use of exclusively gender-specific pronouns like he and she.
- Use of man to refer to all people. (eg, mankind)
- Use of gender-specific job titles.
- Use of Miss and Mrs. (see Ms.)
- Non-parallel usage, such as man and wife.
- Stereotypical words such as virile and ladylike.
- That the word woman includes the word man, as though man were the default form.
Feminist advocates of gender-neutral language believe the following about language which they deem sexist: The gender-specific pronouns of a language distinguish between male and female people (and often of animals as well). ...
A gender-specific job title is a name of a job that also specifies or implies the gender of the person performing that job, such as fireman or stewardess. ...
Ms. ...
- It marginalizes women and creates the impression of a male-dominated society.
- It can be patronising, for example treating women only as marriage material
- It can perpetuate stereotypes about the "correct" way for a man or woman to behave.
A deeper variant of these arguments involves the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the suggestion that our language shapes our thought processes and that in order to eliminate sexism we would do well to eliminate allegedly "sexist" forms from our language. Some people dismiss the effectiveness of such a suggestion, viewing "non-sexist language" as irrelevant window-dressing which merely hides sexist attitudes rather than changing them. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
In linguistics, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (SWH) states that there is a systematic relationship between the grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that person both understands the world and behaves in it. ...
The sign of the headquarters of the National Association Opposed To Woman Suffrage Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination and/or hatred against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all systemic differentiations based on the sex of the...
Opponents of gender neutral language modification do not accept these arguments as valid.
- Most of them argue that traditional use of the English language, and other Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic languages, including using male pronouns when referencing both males and females, is not sexist. They point out that the difference between, for example, waiter and waitress, is purely for specificity, not quality differentiation, and the difference is not synonymous with judgement. Men and women are different, they say, and we shouldn't be afraid to admit that.
- Some argue that there is no reason to assume that the traditional linguistic gender hierarchies reflects a bias against women. They say the female grammatical gender is simply marked and it could actually reflect women being more valued than men. [1]
- They feel that rewriting text to eliminate gender-specific pronouns results in an awkward and ugly writing style.
- Many of them regard it as "political correctness gone mad".
Markedness is a linguistics concept that developed out of the Prague School (also known as the Prague linguistic circle). ...
The gender-specific pronouns of a language distinguish between male and female people (and often of animals as well). ...
Political correctness is the alteration of language to redress real or alleged injustices and discrimination or to avoid offense. ...
Enforcement, persuasion, or evolution? Only a tiny minority of advocates for gender-neutral language argue that using allegedly "sexist" language should be illegal. But many advocates do support the enforcement of rules and policies against language they feel is sexist by schools and workplaces. Hate speech legislation does exist in some countries, but applies to much more clear-cut and widely accepted cases of perceived prejudice. Many editing houses, corporations, and government bodies have official policies in favour of in-house use of gender-neutral language. In some cases, laws exist regarding the use of gender-neutral language in certain situations, such as job advertisements. Hate speech is a controversial term for speech intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a group of people based on their race, gender, age, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. ...
The majority of advocates for gender-neutral language generally prefer persuasion rather than enforcement. One tool of this persuasion is creating guidelines (see below) that indicate how they believe language should be used. Another tool they use is simply to make use of 'non-sexist language' themselves, thereby leading by example.
Some opponents of "non-sexist language" modification accept the basic premise that traditional use of gender in English reflects sexism, but argue that a change in language should evolve organically from changing public attitudes towards gender issues, rather than be achieved either by enforcement, or by persuasion.
Neologising Some terms, such as firefighter and singular they, are sometimes criticized by opponents of gender neutral language-modification as neologisms. But supporters argue that they have a long history that predates the beginning of the women's liberation movement by centuries. At other times new terms have indeed been created, such as Womyn. The issue is sometimes confused by satirists who invent extreme examples of the supposed consequences of "non-sexist language." Singular they, sometimes called epicene they, is the usage in the English language of the gender-neutral third-person plural pronoun they and its inflected forms — they, them, their, theirs, themselves (or themself) — to refer to a single person, often of indeterminate sex, as for example in: Have you ever...
A neologism is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. ...
Feminism is a body of social theory and political movement primarily based on and motivated by the experiences of women. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Some critics accuse advocates of gender-neutral language-modification of "re-gendering" language, replacing masculine in some cases by feminine terms that are equally sexist. Other critics argue that some phrases used in non-sexist language violate the rules of proper grammar and style.
Some critics claim that phrases like "he or she" are not real English words, for they only exist in print, not in speech. In print it is easy for an editor to employ rules of gender-neutral language, but speech is practically impossible to control. People simply do not use "he or she" in their everyday speech; instead they use "they" or "he". Only the most determined reformer would actually use "he or she" in a casual conversation, since it would sound stilted and affected to many people.
Many feminist linguists see phrases such as he or she as a solution to a non-existent problem, arguing that most English speakers happily use the singular they without thinking twice. But many others still insist that it is a grammatical error. The feminist linguists argue that the case for the singular they is quite compelling based on the history of the English language. They argue that it has been in continuous use since the Middle Ages, and cite its use by some of the greatest English authors including Shakespeare and Chaucer. The editors of some style guides have been convinced by these arguments, and some guides now accept the singular they as grammatically correct. William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ...
Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902 Chanticleer the rooster from an outdoor production of Chanticleer and the Fox at Ashby_de_la_Zouch castle Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. ...
Critics of the "singular they" argue that while it may sound acceptable in some contexts, in others it would clearly sound absurd. For example, they argue that no one would ever say anything like: "I'm going to babysit a two-year-old tomorrow. I hope they are well-behaved. I hope they can entertain themselves. I don't want any trouble with them." As a result, they argue, the "singular they" can never fully replace "he," "his," and "him" in cases where the gender is unknown.
However, to some readers the above only sounds strange because of its simple structure and makes perfect sense when rewritten as such: "I'm going to babysit a two-year-old tomorrow and I hope they're well-behaved. I hope they can entertain themself, because I don't want any trouble with them." Notice the use of themself. Themself is increasingly being used as a gender-neutral pronoun, serving as a singular form of themselves to take the place of 'himself' or 'herself'.
Guidelines Many different authorities have presented guidelines on whether, and if so and where, to use gender-neutral, or "non-sexist" language. Several are listed below: Many dictionaries, stylebooks, and some authoritative guides now counsel the writer to follow gender-neutral guidelines. These guidelines, though accepted by many, often remain controversial. Conflict often arises between the desire of some to modify the English language to avoid what they perceive as sexism, and the desire of others to either continue writing and speaking in a way that feels natural and comfortable to them, and/or to maintain traditional standards of grammatical correctness. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The American Psychological Association (APA) is a professional organization representing psychology in the US. It has around 150,000 members and an annual budget of around $70m. ...
Standards advocated by supporters of the gender-neutral modification in English have been applied differently and to differing degrees among English speakers worldwide. This has reflecting differences in cultures and language structure, for example American English in contrast to British English. They are also impacted upon, depending on whether a person uses English as their first language or as a second language, regional variants or whether their form of English is based on grammatical structures inherited from a no longer widely used other language (for example, Hiberno-English) or owes its linguistic structure to earlier Old English or Elizabethan English. In these cases, language structure from their native tongue or linguistic inheritance may enter into their terminology. English language spread in the United States. ...
Dialect areas of England British English (BrE) is a term used to differentiate between the form of the English language used in the British Isles and those used elsewhere. ...
Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
See also A bagpiper in Scottish military clan-uniform. ...
Gender-neutral or epicene pronouns are pronouns that neither reveal nor imply the gender or the sex of a person. ...
It has been suggested that natural gender be merged into this article or section. ...
References
External links - Bible Research - Gender-neutral bible controversy
- Ansary, H., & Babaii, E. (2003). Subliminal sexism in current ESL EFL textbooks. The Asian EFL Journal Vol 5(1) http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/march03.sub1.php
- Female Grammar: Men's speech and women's speech
- Against the Theory of Sexist Language
- Excerpt from The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
- Regender can translate English webpages so as to swap genders. Reading such gender-swapped pages can be an interesting exercise in detecting gender-biased language.
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