blog#7 Martyna, Wendy. "Beyond the "He/Man" Approach: The Case for Nonsexist Language."

I think language is such a broad area to change inequality in gender. It seems to me that people in general do not even speak the same types of English, so to try to change language there is too many avenues to fix. Instead I think children should be taught to break past the stereo types that are in front of them. Except that certain things are not going to change, but in their own lives they can change the things they do not care for. I think sometimes people give importance to certain types of words in our language which are deemed in appropriate which keep them as taboo. This effect I think gives the person who is using it a reason to do so. If people were not to all words to hurt them or know that they are above that type of behavior, the people using it would have no fun in doing so. So I will make a conscience effort in making my children feeling equal but I will not go out and try to save the world.

Blog # 6 Parks, Janet B., and Mary Ann Roberton. “Attitudes toward Women Mediate the Gender Effect on Attitudes toward Sexist Language.”

The article describes sexist language as; “words, phrases, and expressions that unnecessarily differentiate between women and men or exclude, trivialize, or diminish either gender”. (parks & Roberton, 1998a, p. 455). This theory suggests that language and gender are closely tied. The experiences in which people have growing up will affect the mannerism in which people use language. It is shown that both men and women use gender in language, but women are more supportive of non gender language then men. This is an obvious conclusion since men are not the ones being objectified by the use of gender in language. Since I have been in this class I make a conscience effort to not objectify women in language. I noticed in my writing I would always use; “he”, or “man and wife”. Now I try to balance my usage of using gender in language.