emagazine - Notes on Language and Gender clips

'Sexism in English - the 1970s and now'

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/emag/subscribers/_emagclips/cameron11.php

Deborah Cameron suggests that English is 'sexist language' examples of this include:

1. 'he' being used in a general term
2. a lot of jobs include 'man' at the end e.g.. chairman 
3. mankind excludes 'women'

Feminists in the 1970s said this should be changed, because women are now counted in the public sphere so language should be more neutral, therefore they introduced new job titles and give practical alternatives. However, this worked in a 'patchy way.' Some women insist on not being referred to by the change in title, as they thought it meant they lost status. 

• If your intended form of reform doesn't match social opinion then the change won't happen, or at least, won't happen permanently. 
• Word collocations are important to the understanding of connotations. 

'The Social Consequences of Linguistic Stereotyping'

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/emag/subscribers/_emagclips/cameron10.php

• Gender stereotyping is something that should be done a lot less, which would allow people to figure out who they are. 

Language and gender - the three 'D's

http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/emag/subscribers/_emagclips/ross_gender.php

The Deficit Model - male language as the norm, used as a comparison for women's language, suggesting that's it's inferior - no hard data to confirm the theory. In representation, the female version suggests the inferior/smaller version or has sexual connotations in comparison to the male. 

The Dominance Model - most research in 1970. Males dominating conversation and interrupting more. Still relevant to today? 

The Difference Model - men and women misunderstand each other because they use language differently. Doesn't look into misunderstandings between the same gender. 

'Performing gender' - gender isn't the only variable. Use language not just for gender but for age, race, social group, etc. Women and men can diverge from what is considered 'male' or 'female' language.