Re: Gender in language

From: Carol Mulholland <carol@flagship-pbm.co.uk>

Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 11:26:04 +0000

David desJardins wrote:

> Exactly.  But no one says "The mailblonde dropped off a package today",
> nor does English have specialized pronouns that refer to old people or
> tall people or bearded people.  The way that our language emphasizes sex
> is very different from how it treats all other personal characteristics.
> This seems fairly obvious.

Other personal characteristics are more fleeting than gender.

> Certainly it's not some bizarre coincidence that early human societies
> were male-dominated.  It's a consequence of the biology of humans, of
> course.  That doesn't have much to do with whether it's right.  There
> are lots of things that humans do by nature or instinct that we now
> don't think are right.

Indeed, but changing personal pronouns would be (a) very difficult to
achieve and (b) unlikely to make any difference.

> In the past, a female university instructor would sometimes have been
> called a "professoress" just as today, in the 21st century, a female
> actor may be called an "actress".  It seems odd to me to declare the
> obsolescence of "professoress" and the use of "professor" for both male
> and female university instructors to be a desirable development, but to
> defend the distinction between "actor" and "actress" as important
> (why?).

I don't think I have. I don't care what the profession calls itself -
I guess they all aim for the gender-neutral term "film star".

> I didn't say that sex discrimination favors men over women.  I think
> it's bad for both.

I don't think that sex discrimination is a serious problem in Western
society. Sex, on the other hand...

Carol

References

Re: Gender in language
AC <spam@nospam.com.invalid>
Mon, 11 Nov 2002 19:36:24 +0000
Re: Gender in language
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Tue, 12 Nov 2002 00:41:55 +0000
Re: Gender in language
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Wed, 13 Nov 2002 10:22:49 +0000
Re: Gender in language
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Mon, 11 Nov 2002 07:07:58 +0000
Re: Gender in language
AC <spam@nospam.com.invalid>
Tue, 12 Nov 2002 02:16:22 +0000
Re: Gender in language
AC <spam@nospam.com.invalid>
Wed, 13 Nov 2002 17:03:30 +0000
Re: Gender in language
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Wed, 13 Nov 2002 17:17:50 +0000
Re: Gender in language
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Mon, 11 Nov 2002 10:48:57 +0000
Re: Gender in language
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Mon, 11 Nov 2002 18:10:15 +0000
Re: Gender in language
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Mon, 11 Nov 2002 20:07:46 +0000
Re: Gender in language
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Wed, 13 Nov 2002 21:28:45 +0000
Re: Gender in language
AC <spam@nospam.com.invalid>
Tue, 12 Nov 2002 00:37:13 +0000
Re: Gender in language
AC <spam@nospam.com.invalid>
Tue, 12 Nov 2002 01:43:18 +0000
Re: Gender in language
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Tue, 12 Nov 2002 01:53:44 +0000
Re: Gender in language
Carol Mulholland <carol@flagship-pbm.co.uk>
Wed, 13 Nov 2002 21:18:42 +0000