Is the English
language inherently sexiest
Word and word meaning have changed over the long history of
the English language but how the language has changed to fit sociality has
shaped a very inherently sexist language. With words taking on new means over
offence or due to the sexist history of the English language the same term for
a male is normally not offensives and viewed as a good thing. Id also like to
point out their isn’t female equivalent to certain words and have to use the
masculine words when there should be a word which is of equal worth, I believe
all these changes occur because middle aged white males became the most
powerful class in the country which influenced all these changes which lead the
English down a sexist path.
One example is the word of this change over time is the word
“Mistress”. The original meaning “Mistress” is authority of a particular women,
this showed the power than a normal women. Over the centuries the word meaning
changed from a powerful word to common word and became reference to as a women
having regular sex with a married man or men. This shows how sexist the English
has become because of the influence of
males in Britain they were able to take the power away from the word and was
able to demote the word to a word which is offensive as it describes you as
someone who sleeps around. The original equivalent for males was the term “Master”
which means a male which has obtained power, overtime the word has be altered
so women can also be classed as a master. However as “mistress” was an equal
term it shows that men have the ability to demote women, the fact that women
must use “master” to show their power also shows the English language is sexist
as their no longer an equivalent and now have to use a word designed to represent
a powerful man which has been altered to incorporated women. If the English
language wasn’t sexist the word mistress wouldn’t have lost all its meaning in
the first place as women wouldn’t use the word in a negative fashion to change
the meaning to something negative.
Another example of sexism in the English language is that
theirs only 35 words which are designed to offend men compared to 200 which are
offensive to women. This is shown in words such as “slag” and “Hoe” which are
taboo language designed to offend women while their isn’t a male equivalent to
these words. Words such as “spinster” which have been made offensive by men.
The first meaning was who spun yarn in the 13th century, the meaning
later developed into a term for an unmarried women and later the word was
adapted in the 17th century, women were expected to be married by a certain
age, when being old and unmarried was considered wrong. This is due to a
lifestyle which women must follow in society, if not followed sociality would
frown upon them. The equivalent word for men is the word “Bachelor” which has
positive connotations compared to spinster which has negative connotations. The
first use of “bachelor” was in the 14th century when the word described a
low-ranking knights. Later it was used in the Victorian period to describe a
unmarried man, this showed have negative connotations as the equivalent word “
spinster” has negative connation’s however bachelor’ is most commonly known as
a ‘free’ man, living the desired life of most men. Simple phrases such as
“Trophy wife” which consider women as prizes to men and not individuals, also
phrases such as “Grow some balls” Which tell a women to “man up” as it
describes a women as weak.
Muriel Schulz work discusses the semantic
degrodation within sexes. Schulz' investigation showed there is more negative connotations
with words that are associated with women compared to those with men. This is
backed up by Julie Stanley, as she recorded various negative connotations which
were aimed at men and women, this extended Schulz theory as it provides how
lexis has shifted between positive and negative through identifying their
collocations as she did the study for offensive words towards women compared to
men. This shows how sexist the English language is as there is more negatives
words aimed at women and there are few equivalents aimed at men, this show
women haven’t got any power with in the English language as they are unable to
make many words of offense towards men in the past in present. An example is
the word/ term “fuck boy” which was created by women to describe someone who
sleeps around however without men using this term to describe each other I
don’t believe that the word would of stuck. Even with words such as “fuck boy”
the comparison of words is staggering as there is so many more words describing
women than men.
Another example of sexism in the English language is the
different in vocab in how a women and men speak. Due to sociality women have
been told to act in the proper ways by talking just as they have been
instructed as sociality expected women to talk, dressing and acted correctly
for a good and classy social image. Women also use cosmetics which is their
choice however it’s to help portray an image corrected by men, also act in
other “feminine” kinds of behaviour. This “proper” speech style is expected by
women meanwhile men have different English language with a different speech
style. Deborah Cameron studied how men and women have a different English
language due to social expectations on women. Cameron states in her study that
women speech style “verbal hygiene” to it this is because it has been influenced
for certain phrases such as "Be more ladylike" as this was the
previous normal in sociality and expected women to be like this. Even though
times have changed and women have bigger role in sociality and can be their
selves to some extent. Expectation of Victorian times when women were seen but
not heard have moved on but women are still expected as I’ve stated to talk,
dressing and acted correctly for a good and classy social image or beauty.
Cameron believes that their sound be an English language for all and not a
separate language due to social expectations, however I see this to be very
unlikely. I believe this because the English language has a long history and
due to the role of men in creating the language and creating social
expectations in Victorian times as example it will be hard to escape something
so solidified in our language. The sexism is highlighted within the English
language in Cameron studies as it shows the expectations of women compared to
men where their speech style, language use is affected by this social
expectations laid down by men. Also is highlighted as men also have social
expectations of their language, if there was an English language without social
barriers sexism wouldn’t be such a problem in the English language.
In conclusion the English language is very sexist, this is
because the history of the English language has been moulded by men as their
most powerful out of the two in history. Because of this they are able to change
words of important such as mistress as I’ve
explained to negative meanings. Also the English language is sexist simply because
of the amount of words which are designed to offend women compared to men is unbelievable
simply because women are targeted. This shows the English language is sexist as
men have been able to change the language to be offensive to women
