10-second review: Interesting examples of linguistic sexism in online grammar guides.
Title: “Where Is She? Gender Occurrences In On Line Grammar Guides.” Nicole Amare. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2007), pp. 165-187.
Criteria for Analyzing Linguistic Sexism
Generic he: When an employee asks for a raise, he should be brief.
Generic man: mankind, chairman, businessman, etc.
Titles, Labels and Names: stewardess, ballerina, actress, executrix, Miss, lady vols….
Gender Stereotypes: All girls cry at Chick Flicks, but men never cry.
Order of Mention: Nena and Arcturo, husband and wife, he or she….
Male-to-Female: Measures how often female and male words appear in the text.
Comment: Gives many examples of linguistic sexism, some of which I was not sensitive to.
I still think most problems in maintaining neutral linguistic sexism is to avoid singular constructions like the following: Every one returned to their houses in which the singular subject does not agree with the plural pronoun. Instead, begin with the plural: The students returned to their schools.” In addition, avoids the ugly she/he, her/him, his/her etc. constructions. Also reads smoother. Useful article. RayS.
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