英语中的性别歧视
Abstract
Sexism in English language has launched along with the vigorous development of w omen’s liberation movement since the end of 1960s. As a mirror reflecting the socie ty, language images the social views and values. Sexism in society is thus inevitably reflected in the use of language.
The paper based on the analysis of sex discrimination in English explores that it is by no means an extinction of sexist language so long as the sexism in society exist s. The causes of sexism in this thesis are the inequality between male and female. In ancient time, the thoughts that males host females and the treatment of women as inferiors to men are in vogue. Men are always at superior positions to women i n the social economy, in the politics, as well as in the people’s tradi tional ideas, so the idea of sex discrimination has reflected in the language. The thesis summarizes the phenomena of sexism in English by using universal evidence, and they are sho wn and discussed in four aspects: English proverbs, English expressions, English voc abulary and the meanings of English words. Lastly, the thesis introduces two feasibl e strategies to erase sexism in English language, and they are: language reform an d social reform. The most important one is to erase the sexist conceptions and imp rove women’s status, respect and support them. The language transformation can b e realistic on the basis of the social reform.
Key Words
Sexism; female words; masculine words; strategies
摘要
自20世纪60年代起，语言性别歧视已随着女性解放运动的展开而得到蓬勃发展。语言是社会现实的一种反映，因此由于历史发展、文化、社会价值及男女两性之间在生理等方面的差异而引起的性别歧视，尤其是社会对女性的性别歧视一览无余的体现在语言上，英语语言中也存在性别歧视。本篇论文阐述了性别歧视产生的原因是男女地位的不平等，在人类早期，男尊女卑的思想盛行，男子在社会经济、政治、文化领域以及人们的传统观念中，总是处于
比女性优越的地位,人们在观念上形成的对妇女特有的歧视观念慢慢形成并反映在语言中。本文分析了性别歧视在英语中的四个方面的表现：在谚语中；在词汇中；在词语中和在词义中，通过大量的举例和分类来系统阐述。最后着重讨论了消除性别歧视语所应采取的一些策略，从语言策略和社会策略两方面入手，要消除性别歧视，关键在于根除社会上存在的性别歧视观念，进一步提高妇女的社会地位，语言的变革只能在社会变革的基础上才能实现。
关键词
性别歧视；女性词；男性词；策略
Introduction
Language is a social phenomenon, and it has a close relationship with the social lif e, the language is used in a specific social group and it is not only the carrier of t he ideological content, but a mirror of social life, it reveals people’s traditional thou ghts that sex discrimination against women in the society. From the development a nd changes of the language, people can conclude that sex discrimination does not only exist in China, but in all the countries. Therefore, how does English language r eflect the social phenomenon?
The first person who did research on the gender and language is the Denmark ling uist Otto.Jespersen, he regards English as the most masculine language that is famil iar to him, and it is a man centered language. The domestic scholars and experts, Yang Yonglin, BaiJiehong, and so on, have done thorough research about sexist ele ment in the English language, they also have introduced some feasible strategies to erase the sexism, but they just have done thorough research from the language st rategy aspect. In the thesis,the author does the research from the combination of the social reforms and language reforms, and it is essential to erase the sexism fro m people’s minds. English, as one of the most widespread languages, its sexist ele ment shall not be suitable to the intercultural communications, but there is massive discrimination in it, people should pay much more attention to the sex equality an d the improvement of women’s social positions. Understanding the sexist phenomen on in English language helps people study the language culture, and correctly treat
the changes of the language in the historical development. The thesis emphatically i ntroduces and analyzes the specific phenomena of sexism and also provides corresp onding strategies that can be used to eliminate sexism in English language.
Ⅰ. A Definition to Sexism in English Language
Sexism, in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese dictionary, it means that disapproving action based on the ideas or belief that the members of one sex are l ess intelligent, able, and skillful, etc, than the members of the other sex, especially that women are less able than men and those particular jobs and actions are suitab le for women and others are suitable for men. Sexism in English refers to English e xpresses sexist assumptions性别歧视的假设about differences between men and wom en as in the prejudicial use of female or male words
Sexist language expresses unfair assumptions and differences, and it can be either explicit明确的, as in the prejudicial use of male or female pronouns, or implicit不言明[含蓄]的.Using universal evidence, the thesis here reveals how often English expr esses sexist assumptions about differences between men and women.
Just as a proverb goes in England: “If you see an old man, sit down and take a le sson; if you see an old woman, throw a stone.” what expresses English version of the sexism prescribed for women, is particularly confining. English jokes and f olklore 民间传说are blatantly公然的sexist. (NilsenAlleen Pace, 1990). In fact, woman in the world no matter in which country she lives, the roles designated to them is unfair in the society.
Ⅱ. Sexism in English Language
The paper presents the sexist phenomenon, which is very universal in English langu age. And it is shown and discussed in four aspects: English proverbs, English expre ssions, English vocabulary and the meanings of English words.
A. Sexism in English Proverbs
Proverb is crystallization结晶of human wisdom and incarnation化身of the concise精炼language. The linguists consider the proverbs as a mirror of the ethnic, the live f ossil of the language. In recent years, with the further study of the language, the li
nguists have found what refers to both genders, most proverbs in every kind of lan guage unavoidably express the affection of the male chauvinism男（女）性至上主义a nd feudal封建的consciousness of the treatment of females are inferior to males, an d followings are some usual phenomena of the sexist language in English proverbs.
1. Role category
The women are considered as delicious food in the society, the roles of women in t he society and culture in every country are very passive, but men are active, for ex ample: “A fair woman without virtue is like palled wine”, “all women may be won”,“words are women, and deeds are men”. The sentence “long hair and short wit” e xpresses women is lack of wisdom, but men are clever, another example goes like this: “when an ass climbs a ladder, we may find wisdom in women” （庄和诚，2002）, the sexist language expresses women are lack of wisdom and they are c apricious 任性的.
2. Manner Category
In modern society, most people hold such mind that men are successful but women are sexy. In American culture, a woman is valued for the attractiveness and sexine ss of her body, while man is valued for his physical strength and accomplishments.
A persuasive piece of evidence supporting this view is that female eponyms名祖rela te closely to a woman’s physical anatomy解剖，分解，分析, while the masculine epo nyms have nothing to do with the namesake’s同名的body, but instead, honor the man for his achievement and accomplishment.
3. Marriage Category
In relation to marriage, there is much linguistic evidence showing that weddings are more important to women than to men. Many proverbs reflect such feudal conscio usness封建意识that girls are not important in a family. For example: “it is a sad ho use where the hen crows louder than the cock”, “Marry your son when you will, yo ur daughter when you can”,“there are many good women, it is true but they are i n their graves”. （庄和诚，2002）Such examples have revealed women are inferior and subordinate从属的to them.
B. Sexism in English Expressions
English has gradually formed the tendency that the expressions referred to the male generalize概括the ones pointed to the two genders during its development. Althou gh people do not mind to discriminate against women during their communications, the phenomena that people discriminate against women reflect the gender bias of s
ociety, and sometimes, women feel insult侮辱from other people. Moreover, some ex pressions structure that elaborate精心制作的the meanings of discriminating against woman have emerged, and therefore people call English a sexist language.
1. The Summary of Masculine Expressions on Two Genders
Masculine English expressions summarize two genders. People often meet such sent ences during our study and daily life: “any patient is free to bring his complaint to me if he feels aggrieved”, “we hope the reader will use his own judgment”, “everyo ne should hand his homework tomorrow”. From the above examples, it is clear that the words “his” or “he “in the sentences refer to two genders, not the single gend er, that is to say, “he” contains “she”, “his” contains “her”. Beside s, to begin a lett er, words referred to males contain two genders in salutations of a letter, people of ten use the words referred to man summarize man and woman when they do not know the receiver’s specific sex of the people, for example, in formal letters, people often use “Dear sir or Dear gentlemen”, but do not care for the receiver’s sex. Th e sexism exists in every field, so people should pay much attention to the sexist ph enomenon in the language.
2. Sex Orders in Expressions and Words
Female words are behind male words, in some English expressions, when referring t o men and women, the two genders are not equal, female words are behind male words, for instance: brother and sister, father and mother, boys and girls, husband and wife, man and woman. Those do not elaborate the sexist meanings in form bu t with sexism in sense. The jobs teacher, nurse, secretary, model, and etc, these n eutral words are designated to female, but professor, lawyer, doctor, etc. are recog nized as masculine words and designated to males. All these customaries are a soci al bias, just look at another example: “professional”, when a man is called a profes sional, he is thought to be a doctor or a lawyer, but when people hear a woman r eferred to as a professional, and they are likely to think of a prostitute. But it is n ot true today, because so many women have become doctors and lawyers that it is no longer incongruous to think of women in those professional roles. People should change their traditional conceptions that females are inferior to males.
3. The Changes of Female Words’ Meanings
During the development of English, many female words’ meanings have taken place during the history. For example, “governor”, in old English, it referred to the perso n in charge of a particular unit, and now it keeps the same meaning. However, the
relative word “governess” means another thing, it has changed its former meaning from family tutor into prostitute, and another example, “master” and “mistress” ref erred to the male and female school teacher, but now the word “mistress” refers to a woman who is having a sexual relationship with a married man, and so do man y other words, lord and lory, sir and Madame, temper and temptress. The female w ords have changed their former meanings and they have been endowed with a belit tled meaning, which is the sexist reflection in English language.
C. Sexism in English Vocabulary
Sexism exists in English language, it shows that masculine vocabulary refer to both genders, that is to say, the generalization of the masculine words.
1. Sex Discrimination and Job Titles
Inferior job titles refer to both genders, but higher ones only refer to male. In Engl ish, there are both feminine words and masculine words referred to the inferior job s in social status. For instance, waiter and waitress, steward and stewardess. But w hen referring to the higher post titles, there are only masculine words, such as doct or, professor, engineer, etc. are suitable for both genders. However, these words ar e usually associated with masculine, if they are used to designate female, they woul d always be added on a word “woman” or “lady”. Such as these words a lady-doct or, a business woman-lawyer. In English, the words used to describe woman are pe jorative and belittled, but the words used to describe man are positive and praised, although the man and woman do the same work in a company, people used to d escribe them with different words due to the social bias, for example, a businessma n is aggressive, and a businesswoman is pushy. In addition, one often meets these phenomena during our daily lives
2. Man and Woman
Male are superior to females. Woman is subordinate to man. In vocabulary, the nou ns ending with –er, –or are neutral words, but people think they are masculine, suc h as doctor, professor; engineer, etc. If they are designated to females, they alway s add woman or lady before them, and many professional nouns take “man” as the ir suffix, such as chairman, mailman, etc. Although there are many women working in the field, the word he always indicate the both genders, just as English teachers often say that nobody in the class can be proud of his English, here, “his” stands for girls and boys, no matter that there are many boys and girls in the class. The
generalization of the word “he” reveals men are superior to women and men are th e center of the society.
D. Sexism in the Meanings of English Words
A word, when it is used in different genders, it is endowed with different meanings. For example, “prudent man” refers to a man who is car eful and cautious to the u ncertainties and he acts care and foresight, but “prudent woman” is the woman wh o behaves in an extremely manner. And another example: “imposing man” refers to the man who looks important or causes admiration, but “imposing woman”refers t o the woman who is indifferent, ruthless and horrible.
Furthermore, another word “tramp” which is used to refer to the man without famil y, job or money, who travels around and asks for money from others ,but when “tr amp” refers to a woman, it is a mistress, obviously it is a semantic choice of social bias. Sometimes, two words point to the same thing, the linguistic senses are diffe rent, for example, bachelor refers to the single man, but the word spinster refers t o the unmarried old woman, the two words are unequal in the linguistic sense. Just because of the social bias, the society treats the single man and woman differently. For English itself, there is no sex discrimination, even no gender difference in it, m asculine meanings are endowed with gender inequality by people purposely. From t he above evidences, people can find factors about the gender discrimination in Engli sh language
.
Ⅲ. The Causes of Sexism in English Language
English language, as a social phenomenon, it surely reflects the society, and it has the features which are changeable and profound. As a mirror reflecting the society, language images the social views and values. Sexism in society is thus inevitably ref lected in the use of language, it reveals the gender bias of the society.
A. The Causes of Social Position and Power
The sexist language reveals discrimination against women in social life. In ancient ti mes, man was the center of the society and more important than woman, no matt er in which field, such as in the social economics, politics, culture fields and traditio nal conceptions, woman was inferior to man and was subordinated and dominated by man, they have been looked down upon gradually. As a result, the idea that wo man is inferior to man has been revealed in the language.
Sexism exists in people’s minds. Sexism does not only exist independently in the lan guages, but also exists in people’s minds. Language is like an X-ray in providing visi ble evidence of invisible thoughts. The most important thing people are interested i n is to discuss sexist language as they make conscious decisions about what pronou ns they will use, no matter what jokes they will tell or laugh at, how they will writ e their names, or how they will begin their letters, they are forced to think about t he underlying issue of sexism. Sexism in English is the remnant of sexism in one c ulture reflected in the English.
B. The Effect of Traditional Conception and Culture Consciousness
Social bias has engendered with the impact of the social surroundings and the tradi tional conceptions, the discrimination against woman in English language has formed a kind of vicious circle, the bias and discrimination against woman is a part of cult ure values, and the propagation of the culture values has strengthened the sexism. The first woman Eve reported in the Bible is created by the rib taken from Adam (t he first man made by God), it proves that woman belongs to man, woman is creat ed for man, and the religion supports the idea that female is inferior to man. Sexis t phenomenon in language reveals the social life. To some extent, language is a mi rror of social life, and it reflects the relationships between moral sense and ideology of treatment of females as inferior to males. Therefore, the sex discrimination in la nguage cannot be eliminated if sexism exists in the society. The unfair positions bet ween man and woman is one causes of the society, in primitive time, and man wa s at superior position in the social economics, politics and people’s traditional ideolo gy, women were inferior and subordinated to men, so people have formed the tradi tional conceptions that belittle woman, the false idea reflected the discrimination ag ainst women have gradually permeated in the language, and then there have been sexist language.
Ⅳ. The Strategies of Eliminating or Avoiding Sexism in English
In English language, people can find universal phenomena of sexism, but with the v igorous developing of women’s liberation movement and the improving of women’s status, the sexism in English language have desalinated. Two ways are used to elim inate the sexist English, they are: language strategy and social reform.
A. Language Strategies
Eliminating the sexist language is to apply standard language, and populate the neu tral words and expressions, and avoid the masculine words in the communication.
1. Population of Neutral Words and Expressions
The most important thing to erase the sexism in English language is to spread the neutralization of words and expressions, the neutralization of them is to stop the ge neration of the sexist words with “man” as their suffix and the usages of the sexist job titles, to populate the usages of affix “person” to replace the words with “ma n”, such as chairperson replaces chairman, mailperson replaces mailman, salesperson r eplaces salesman, etc. It’s a new trend to spread neutral words and use the gend er-free words. Such as the words teacher, officer, dealer, coach, child, clerk, politici an, leader, tutor, writer, and expert, etc. and try to avoid the words ending with su ffi x “man”. For instance, use firefighter instead of fireman, supervisor instead of for eman, and seller instead of salesman, and so on.
2. Avoiding of the Generalization of Masculine Word “He”
One of the most difficult problems is the lack of a singular personal pronoun with which to refer to one person whose sex is unknown or irrelevant. Traditionally “he”has been used, with “his” as the possessive, but the use of “his” is open to the s ame objection as the use of man. The solutions are: first, changing to a plural and use “they” and “their” for the singular, so change the sentence: “if a student can't be in class, he'll have to do the work in his own time” to: “If a student can't be i n class, they'll have to do the work in their own time”. Another example: “Anyone who wants to go to the game should bring his money tomorrow”, this one is sexist, and people should revise it as “anyone who wants to go to the game should bring their money tomorrow”. Second, the third person plural pronouns “they”, “them”, “their”not only refer to the plural, but the single. For instance: “everyone should b ring their books tomorrow” is equal to “everyone should bring his or her book tomo rrow” In the intercultural communications, trying to avoid the sexist language, and people should possess prudent attitudes, using the standard words to replace the se xist ones, so as to get an equal language environment.
3. Ms. as an Alternative to Both Mrs. and Miss.
Women are labelled as married or unmarried women when they give their title as Mr s or Miss, but men are all Mr and don’t have to reveal their marital status in soc iety, so feminists have proposed Ms as a equivalence of Mr, there is an incresing tr
end to drop the titles and a person’s first name and surname in letters, public notic es, and so on. For example, when people want to write a letter to a company, but do not know the sex or name of that person, they can start the letter “Dear Mr. and Ms.” or “Dear Agent”. The examples show that it is incorrect and not accetable to ignore women i n business and some other fields, it’s also not good to offend p eople with sexist words and expressions.
B.Social Strategy
First of all, it is significant to establish the social consciousness that women are equ al to men, language is a mirror of the society, there is no sexism even gender diff erence in the English itself. The sexism is naturally revealing the social values and cultural consciousness. In order to eliminate the sexism in English language, the mo st urgent thing is to eliminate and critize the backward traditional conceptions that man is the center of the society and more supperior to woman. In fact ,women , a s a part of the socity , have contributed a lot to the society. Therefore, people, no matter in which country, have the right to enjoy the equality of both sexes. Moreover, it is important to publish the modern ideology that women enjoy equal ri ghts with man, to propagate and educate people that society consists of men and women, they are equal in all the fields. Moreover, women should be confident in th emselves and goad themselves. Only the women get equal positions with men can t hey get the respects and supports from men .When people in the society set up th e ideas that women are equal to men, there is hope to eliminate the sexism in En glish. From the above, the best thing that people know is to eliminate sexist conce ptions from people’s minds, then eliminate sexism in English has realistic significanc e.
Conclusion
People not only s pay attention to the English language itself, but the sexism in it. It is inevitable to remove the sexist conceptions from people’s minds, and it is the general trend of current social development, the equal dialogue and culture exchang e. The society consists of male and female. How will they apply their own language s to communication and what they hold in common will be the humanity’s eternal t opics.
Language is a social phenomenon, and it develops along with the advancing of the society. The sexism in English cannot disappear if sex discrimination exists, if people
only abolish the words accompanied with sex discrimination instead of changing pe ople’s traditional minds, and then there will be new sexist words to come one day. English language, which is regarded as one of the most widespread languages, is a n important tool for intercultural communication. To some extent, those who are en gaged in multinational communication are bound to understand the cultural backgro und of English words and the meanings of them in different context correctly. As fo r the sexist words, people should be careful to use them, lest they will make some mistakes unconsciously during their communication or cause some unnecessary mis understandings. With the developing of the women’s liberation movement and the i mproving of their social status, the sexism has desalinated a lot, its current trends are the appearance of the neutralized English words and the disappearance of sexis t English language. The thesis analyzes the phenomena of sexism in English in thre e aspects: the specific phenomena, the causes, and the strategies of eliminating sex ism in English language. The thesis aims at helping people erase the sexist phenom ena and apply the standard language. The thesis plays an important role in English teaching, what’s more, it helps these Engli sh learners to get better understandings about English language.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my indebtedness to my tutor------Ms. Zhu Quanquan, my B.
A. Thesis supervisor, whose detailed advice and painstaking and invaluable criticism of earlier drafts had a major impact to the final shape of the paper, without her re markable insights and her invaluable suggestions for improvement of the thesis, the completion of the paper would have been impossible.
And I also greatly appreciate the help coming from my respectable teachers Profess or. Tang Guoping, Mr. Ma Dong and Ms. Tan Changlian, and Ms. Zhang Yihua.
At the same time, I want to thank my roommates Zhu Yan and Zhu Yuan Hong, a nd my best friends Miss Huang Rong, Liu Juan. They offer me excellent suggestions to write my paper. I hope I can apply my knowledge to my job in the future. Finally, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to those who spend their precious time in reading this thesis.
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[Abstract] Language plays an important role in society. As a phenomenon of society, language reflects all the sides of human society naturally. Sexism is a phenomenon that takes a male-as-norm attitude, trivializing, insulting or rendering women invisible. As a special social phenomenon, sexism is inevitably reflected through language. To start with, the thesis traces the reasons for the occurrence of sexism in the English language. In nature, sexism in language reflects sexism in society. The two are closely related. Social connotations of sexism in English tell the relationship between phenomenon of sexism in language and essence of sexism in society. Then the thesis analyses sexism in terms of the generic masculine, word order and semantic derogation of women in greater detail. Finally, a large part of the thesis is contributed to how to change sexism in English. The author of the thesis thinks the key to the problem is: (1) solve the problem of generic pronouns; (2) neutralize lexis; (3) strive for balanced naming and addressing system; (4) coin new corresponding words. The elimination of linguistic sexism lies in social change. Only by changing the social structure, that is, women and men own really equal status, can language equality be truly achieved. [Key Words] sexism; English language; lexical neutralization; feminism [摘要] 语言在社会中所处的地位尤为重要。作为一种社会现象的语言，必然会反映出人类社会的各种社会观念。性别歧视作为这其中的一种，是指把男性视作社会规范和中心，轻视，侮辱女性或使她们显得微不足道。而这一特定的社会现象必然会在语言中折射出来。 论文首先剖析了英语中性别歧视现象形成的根源。从本质来说，语言中的性别歧视是社会中性别歧视的体现。两者紧密相连。性别歧视的社会内涵反映的就是这种语言中的性别歧视现象与社会中的性别歧视的本质的关系。接着论文从阳性词泛指，词序，词义的贬降等方面对英语中的性别歧视现象进行了详细的分析。最后论文还着力探讨如何改变这种歧视。作者认为，改变性别歧视主要解决以下几个问题：(1) 避免阳性代词的泛指；(2) 词汇的中性化； (3)命名与称谓的对等；(4)创造新的对应词。语言中的性别歧视的最终消亡取决于社会变化。只有改变社会结构，即男女真正拥有平等的地位，语言中的平等才能真正实现。消除语言中的性别歧视的根本在于实现男女的平等的社会变革。 [关键词] 性别歧视；英语语言；词汇中性化；女权主义 1. Introduction As the peculiar result of the development of human society, language is a kind of social phenomenon and reflects all the sides of human society naturally. Its existence and development are closely linked with the social attitudes of human beings and to a great extent are affected by their social views and values. Historically and sociologically, our society is man-oriented and man-centered.
景德镇陶瓷学院科技 艺术学院 本科生毕业论文（设计） 题目：Sexism in English Vocabulary 学号： 姓名： 院（系）： 专业： 完成时间： 指导老师： CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………….. Abstract in Chinese……………………………………. Abstract in English……………………………………. 1.Definition……………………………………………… 2.Sexism in word-formation methods……………….. 2.1 Suffixes………………………………………… . 2.2 Sexism in compound words…………………….. 3.Sxism in Naming and Addressing………………….. 3.1 Sexism and Naming………………………………. 3.1.1 Sexism in the first names……………….. 3.1.1.1 Derivation of Female Names from Male Names…….. 3.1.1.2 Sexism in Semantic Naming of First Names………. 3.1.2 Sexism in the family names…………… 3.1.2.1 Patrilineal System of Family Names 3.1.2.2 Change of Female Family Names upon marriage 3.2 Sexism and Addressing……….
论英语中的性别歧视现象及其消除方法 ［Abstract］Language reflects a nation’s history, culture and all of its entertainments, believes and prejudice. Therefore, language inevitably has the traits of sexism. It is the use of language which devalues members of one sex, almost invariably women, and thus fosters gender inequality. It discriminates against women by rendering them invisible or trivializing them at the same time that it perpetuates notions of male supremacy. This thesis is to talk about the sexual discriminations in English, traits of female language, and solutions to eliminate sexual discriminations. ［Key words］English,sexual discrimination,female language,solution I. Sexual Discrimination in English 1.1 Take the men’s language as the standard language, and women as the ancilla of men In English, there are many words with sexual discrimination phenomenon, and in the order of words, we can find that men are usually in front of women. For instance, Mr. and Mrs., his and hers, boys and girls, men and women, brothers and sisters, etc.. Because of the long-term historical reason, women have been put in the position of appurtenant of men. In many countries there is the tradition that unmarried women are
一英语语言中的性别歧视现象 首先我们来了解一下什么是性别歧视（sexism）。根据Webster Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary，其定义是：prejudice or discrimination based on sex ; esp: discrimination against women , 基于性别的偏见或歧视，尤其是对妇女的歧视。?朗曼英语词典?对“性别歧视”的解释是：“以性别为基础的歧视，尤其是男性对女性的偏见。”?? Longman English Dictionary on "gender discrimination" explanation was: "based on gender discrimination, particularly male prejudice against women. ?牛津字典?给“性别歧视”所下的定义是：“性别偏见或歧视(尤其对女性).”?Oxford Dictionary?to the "gender discrimination" by the definition of is: "gender bias or discrimination (especially for women)."因此，在语言习惯上，“性别歧视”通常是指语言对女性的歧视，那么，英语语言是怎样歧视女性的呢？ 1.以男性语言为规,而女性语言只是一种附属或变体.Therefore, on the language, "sex discrimination" usually refers to the language of discrimination against women, then the English language is how to discriminate against a woman then 1.1在词汇上的表现a) “当中最明显的例子就是”man”一词，既有“男子“的意思，又表示”人类”.泛指所有的人，而woman仅是“女子”的意思。如：Man cannot live by bread alone.(人不能单靠面包生活)。The man in the street(普通人，一般人)。一个语言学家曾抱怨说：假如一个女人从船上掉入水中，呼叫的是：“MAN，OVERBROAD。”若她被闯了祸逃走的司机撞死控告词是MANSLAUGHTER。倘若在工作中受伤，她的医疗费称作WORKMAN’S COMPENSATION。但是如果她来到一个写着man only ！的地方。她立刻明白整个告戒不是针对动物或植物或无生命之物而写的，而是冲着她来的.”[1][P22-23]b)不知道所指之人的具体性别时，he ,his 和 him 经常用来泛指全人类，（这是英语中的一条规则）, 如 Every student has to make up his own mind. He who laughs last laughs best.男主女从，以逻辑性为中心，女性便居于从属地位。就词汇而言，如以—er, --or 结尾的名词实则是个中性词，但人们将之看作男性名词，所以如是女性则在前面加woman,如：a woman doctor. Man 一词不但可以指男人，成年男人，而且作为“人类的总称”,而woman 则不然。许多职业名词常以man 作为后缀，尽管干这工作的有许多女性。he 和she 的单数中性人称代词用he 表示，因而我们常见Nobody in the class can be proud of his English.这类说法，尽管教室中有男有女。 1．2 称谓上的表现a) “把女性当做男性的附属品，而这一观点充分体现在英语称谓词当中。Mr. 是对一位男士的尊称， Mrs.则是一位男子的太太的尊称，女性的称谓也就依附于男性了，如: 丈夫是John Smith 具有博士学衔，于是可以称这对夫妇为Dr. and Mrs. John Smith.假如丈夫没有学衔或职称，那只能称为Mr. and Mrs. John Smith. 假如妻子是博士，丈夫没有学衔或职称，妻子的名字叫Marry随夫姓后只能称呼为Marry Smith. Miss是用来称呼未婚女性的称呼。Mr.却既可以称呼未婚男性，也可以称呼已婚的男性。女性从称谓马上就可以识别出婚姻状况，而对于男性却无从知晓，而且女性结婚后改随夫姓，这样自己的姓就完全被遗忘了。b) 许多职业名称如doctor, professor, engineer,等对男女都适应，可是人们习惯于把他们跟男性联系在一起。而对于女性则成了一个标志项，往往要加上woman, lady, 或female 等词加以限定。如：female judge, lady doctor, woman lawyer. 这些从一个侧面反映出旧社会中地位较高的职业为男子所垄断，相反地，teacher, nurse , secretary, model 等人们一般认为是女性，如为男性时前面要加上male 或是man.如male nurse, man teacher. 这些除了历史现实情况有关，也可以说是一种社会偏见.” 2.女性语言语意贬低的表现 “英语中，与女性有关的词语的贬化大大多于与男性相关的词语。曾有人做过统计，与prostitute意思接近的词大约有500多个，而与whole-monger(嫖客)意思相近的词只有65个。此外这一点还表现在对于与女性相关的词语的含义的贬化上。在英语中，任何词只要与女性有关，其意思就要变质，这个词就会成为贬义词。同一个词用与男性和女性身上可以引起极为不同的联想，甚至是有完全不同的意思。用与男性常常带有褒扬或赞美之意，而用于女性常常带有贬低或轻蔑的意思。例如，professional一词，用在男性身上和女性身上可能会引起的联想却大相径庭。He is a professional.让人联想起体面的职业，如律师，医生等，而She is a professional很多英语国家的人会理解为She is a prostitute。
陈贺 （宿州学院外国语学院，安徽宿州 234000） 摘要：从英语语言出发，分析其中的性别歧视现象：视男性用语为主体，女性用语为变体或附属；两性词语在词义上不对称；词汇排序上遵循“男先女后”的原则。接着从劳动性别分工、宗教思想、性别角色社会化三个角度对之进行原因解读。这为当前的性别语言研究提供一定的参考和启示。 关键词：性别；劳动分工；宗教；角色社会化 中图分类号：H0-05 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1673-2596（2011）09-0209-03 性别歧视是以性别为基础而产生的一种歧视现象，它可以表现为男性对女性的歧视，也可以表现为女性对男性的歧视。《朗曼英语词典》定义性别歧视为：“以性别为基础的歧视，尤其是男性对女性的偏见。”《美国传统词典》关于“性别歧视”的解释是：“一类性别成员对另一类性别成员，尤其是男性对女性的歧视。”因此，“性别歧视”通常是对女性的歧视，是社会对女性的偏见[1]1。语言是人们交流的重要工具，是人类思想的重要载体，折射了社会的文化习俗与价值观念。通过语言，可以管窥到人们的性别观念。几千年来，英语国家人们一直生活在父权制体系的桎梏之下，对女性怀有深深的歧视。这一性别态度，在英语语言中有着深刻的印证。那么，本文将揭示英语语言中的性别歧视现象，并对之进行原因探讨。 一、英语语言中的性别歧视 （一）以男性为规范 以男性为规范是语言性别歧视的重要表现之一[1]1。表现在具体语言事实上，即语言视男性用语为主体，将女性用语当作变体或附属[2]。这一特征在英语语言中具有鲜明的体现。 （二）词义上的不对称 其次，与男性相比，英语中与女性相关的贬义词数量众多。据Dale Spencer统计，英语中表达“性生活放荡”的词语，至少有220个是与女性相关，而只有20个左右与男性有关。另据研究，英语中表示“在性生活上乱七八糟的女子”的词多达320个，几乎所有关于女性的词都有具有贬义，而一部分关于男性的词则含有“哪个男子不风流的”容忍之意。 再次，男女词义演变上不对称。在长期的语言交际过程中，男性词语向褒义方向演变，而女性词语则有恶化的趋势。King（国王）、lord（老爷）、master（主人）、father（父亲），在现代英语中，只要把他们的首字母大写，就可以分别用来指“上帝”、“基督”、“主或神”。与男性褒化相对，女性词语往往增加了贬义。Tart一词原指一种小糕饼，后用作亲昵的称呼年轻女子，后来演变为“富于性感的女子”，随后又转化为“对道德不甚介意，作风随便的女子”，而现在又指“在街上拉客的女子”。 （三）语序上的歧视 二、英语中性别歧视产生的原因 语言依赖于社会，是人类社会的产物。不同的社会形态，会产生不同的语言体系。语言的形成与一定的社会文化、风俗习惯、价值观念等，有着密切的关系。因此，英语语言中的性别歧视现象，与英美国家男女不平等的社会现实不无关联。而这种不平等的社会现实，与以下三个层面紧密相关： （一）劳动性别分工 马克思主义女性主义认为男女不平等源自劳动性别分工[3]67。劳动性别分工是人类最主要的社会分工形式，以生理性和社会性别为基础，社教化将男性和女性分别规范在以性别特质界定的工作岗位[3]68。依照性别分配劳动是人类最早的劳动分工方式，它是人类寻找到的最有效的组织社会生活的方法[4]。在西方农业社会里，劳动性别分工模式主要与性别天然差异和当时的生产力发展水平有关： 首先，在某种程度来讲，劳动性别分工是自然秩序的结果[5]。根据达尔文理论，男性与女
英语中的性别歧视 Abstract Sexism in English language has launched along with the vigorous development of w omen’s liberation movement since the end of 1960s. As a mirror reflecting the socie ty, language images the social views and values. Sex ism in society is thus inevitably reflected in the use of language. The paper based on the analysis of sex discrimination in English explores that it is by no means an extinction of sexist language so long as the sexism in society exist s. The causes of sexism in this thesis are the inequality between male and female. In ancient time, the thoughts that males host females and the treatment of women as inferiors to men are in vogue. Men are always at superior positions to women i n the social economy, in the politics, as well as in the people’s tradi tional ideas, so the idea of sex discrimination has reflected in the language. The thesis summarizes the phenomena of sexism in English by using universal evidence, and they are sho wn and discussed in four aspects: English proverbs, English expressions, English voc abulary and the meanings of English words. Lastly, the thesis introduces two feasibl e strategies to erase sexism in English language, and they are: language reform an d social reform. The most important one is to erase the sex ist conceptions and im p rove women’s status, respect and support them. The language transformation can b e realistic on the basis of the social reform. Key Words Sexism; female words; masculine words; strategies 摘要 自20世纪60年代起，语言性别歧视已随着女性解放运动的展开而得到蓬勃发展。语言是社会现实的一种反映，因此由于历史发展、文化、社会价值及男女两性之间在生理等方面的差异而引起的性别歧视，尤其是社会对女性的性别歧视一览无余的体现在语言上，英语语言中也存在性别歧视。本篇论文阐述了性别歧视产生的原因是男女地位的不平等，在人类早期，男尊女卑的思想盛行，男子在社会经济、政治、文化领域以及人们的传统观念中，总是处于比女性优越的地位,人们在观念上形成的对妇女特有的歧视观念慢慢形成并反映在语言中。本文分析了性别歧视在英语中的四个方面的表现：在谚语中；在词汇中；在词语中和在词义中，通过大量的举例和分类来系统阐述。最后着重讨论了消除性别歧视语所应采取的一些策
Eliminating the Sexism in English Abstract: Language plays an important role in society, which can reflect all the sides of human society naturally. Linguistic sexism is a type of social phenomenon that reflects the certain traditional social value. One of the Sexism?s definitions is that “The discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women.” the Danish linguist points out that English is the most masculine language as far as he is concerned in his Growth and Structure of the English Language. As a language which has a long history and influencing the world extensively, English has experienced innumerable reformations, which updates the language constantly. The reason of the sexist phenomenon?s eliminating in the English language and then proposes ways to avoid sexist English. Key Words: sexism; English; language; feminism; avoid 1. The phenomenon of Sexist English Linguistic sexism is a social problem, which can reflect people?s discrimination against the female sex. T he women?s l iberation movement made people began to realize that the language reform and nonsexist becomes necessary. Sexist language should be changed and avoided, which is definitely positive for the developing of language. As the most widespread language in the world, English sexism should be avoided. Being given the same opportunities as men is the key point to eliminate linguistic sexism. The sexism in English Language has existed for a long time, and brings many bad feelings to women. This sexism comes from the deep cultural sexism on women in society, and has realistic factors. Though women?s position is higher, the sexism still exists. 2. Women and men truly have equal status means language equality In the Holy Bible(The Books of The Old Testament): “So the L ord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed
浅谈英语语言中性别歧视 中文摘要 性别歧视在不同的社会制度和国家中都不同程度地存在。而作为一种普遍的社会现象，自然会在语言中得到折射。本文介绍了英语中的性别歧视语的种种表现形式，分析了这种现象产生的社会原因和文化根源，并总结了在英语语言运用过程中消除性别歧视的方法。 关键词: 英语语言；性别歧视;产生原因；消除方法 Abstract Sex discrimination exists in all the social systems and countries, and as a common social phenomenon, it is surly reflected in language. This paper lists out different forms of sex discrimination in English, analyses the social and cultural causes of such phenomenon and summarizes the corresponding methods of eliminating sex discrimination in English speaking. Key words: English; sex discrimination; causes; methods of eliminating 引言 在社会生活中，语言对男女一视同仁，但语言是文化的载体，并在人们不断使用的过程中逐渐得到丰富和发展。作为一个地区，一个民族约定俗成的一种表达方式，语言必然会反映出一定的社会价值观念和民族思维方式。性别歧视是以性别为基础而产生的一种社会歧视现象，?朗曼英语词典?对“性别歧视”的解释是：“以性别为基础的歧视，尤其是男性对女性的偏见。《美国传统字典》的定义是“一种性别成员对另一性别成员，尤其是男性对女性的歧视”。虽然它可以表现为男性对女性的歧视，也可以表现为女性对男性的歧视。但是“性别歧视”通常是对女性的歧视，是人们对女性的偏见和男女社会地位不平等的反映。“女性长期以来被看作是the weaker sex/the second sex，是男性的陪衬和附属品。即使在标榜人权，平等的西方发达国家中也是如此。而现代女权运动轰轰烈烈的发展形势正是对这一不平等现象的反抗和反映。”[1](P80)从而在语言中，出现了多种多样的性别歧视语，英语也不例外。 一、性别歧视语言现象 （一）人际称谓 亲昵称谓 在西方，男性上司称呼他们的女性下属时可以用一些表示亲密关系的昵称，如sugar, darling, sweetie, girlie; 反过来，女性下属却不能用这些昵称来称呼她们的上司，而且女性上司也不能如此来称呼她们的男性职员，可是，陌生男子或非亲密关系的男子却可用昵称来称呼女子，这说明在英美社会女性比男性社会地位
最新英语专业全英原创毕业论文，都是近期写作 1 从跨文化角度对品牌名称的研究——以化妆品品牌为例 2 美国犹太文化与传统犹太文化的冲突——浅析《再见吧，哥伦布》 3 英语习语陷阱及其学习策略 4 我看简爱的爱情 5 《雾都孤儿》中的正邪儿童形象 6 《荆棘鸟》的女性主义解读 7 文档所公布均英语专业全英原创毕业论文。原创Q 175 567 12 48 8 Purity and Doom: on Thomas Hardy’s Tess’s of the d’Urbervilles 9 中国文化特色词汇的音译与中国文化的传播 10 Hardy’s View of feminism from Sue Bridehead in Jude the Obscure 11 像鲁滨逊一样在逆境中创造精彩 12 论《推销员之死》中威利的死因 13 欧·亨利作品中人生的真正意义 14 从美学角度浅谈英文电影片名的翻译 15 出人意料的结局和夸张－基于欧亨利的短篇小说《忙碌经纪人的罗曼史》 16 主位推进模式在语篇翻译中的应用 17 小议非语言交际中的身体语言 18 荒诞与抵抗——《局外人》中莫尔索的荒诞表现之原因分析 19 《少年派的奇幻漂流》电影中的隐喻与象征手法研究 20 《快乐王子》中的唯美主义 21 圣经对J.K.罗琳创作《哈利?波特》的影响——对《哈利?波特与凤凰社》的写作手法及其宗主题的研究 22 英语与汉语中的称谓研究 23 电影《闻香识女人》中弗兰克的人物分析 24 A Probe Into the Translation of the Hot Cyber Word—“Geili” 25 从文化视角看《了不起的盖茨比》中黛西的无辜 26 On the Causes of the Death of Willy Loman in Death of A Salesman 27 A Survey on Western Culture Learning among Non-English Majors 28 性别差异在日常英语词汇和句法中的体现 29 经典英语电影台词的语言特征和文化态度 30 浅析爱尔兰诗人叶芝作品中的象征主义 31 《在路上》：垮掉一代的反叛与追求 32 《呼啸山庄》男主人公希斯克里夫的性格分析 33 跨文化交际中的语用失误与避免方法 34 A Masterpiece "Stolen" from the Past—Intertextuality Analysis of The Great Gatsby 35 从翻译美学探究散文英译 36 简?爱性格魅力分析 37 旅游英语中的跨文化交际语用失误分析 38 高级英语课堂中教师角色研究 39 英文商务信函的语言特点和写作原则 40 简爱性格魅力分析 41 从文化负载词褒贬意义看中西文化差异
英语中对女性性别歧视语言的词汇特征 减小字体增大字体作者：张娜来源：考试周刊发布 时间：2007-11-03 关键字:英语女性性别歧视语言词汇 摘要：本文从熟语和人名两个方面，运用举例、对比等方法，探讨了英语中对女性性别歧视语言的词汇特征。 关键词：性别歧视熟语人名词汇特征 1 引言 性别歧视是以性别为基础而产生的一种歧视现象，是一个性别成员对另一个性别成员的歧视，既包括对女性的歧视，也包括对男性的歧视，实际上常指对女性的歧视。性别歧视反映在语言中就形成了语言性别歧视。语言中的性别歧视观点是在揭示了语言的不对称现象以后提出来的。语言学家们相信，受宗教法规、等级制度等制约的文化环境中的语言，反映的是男性世界图景的本质内容—男性属于中心地位，而女性的形象却是残缺不全。文化伴随意义，语言国情学研究的一个重要方面是受民族文化制约（即形式上来表现）的附属义，主要包括潜在的感情色彩和评价色彩，两者相互联系，其总和概括地体现了人们对事物现象的褒贬态度
（顾亦谨，1991：23-4）。词汇与社会发展的关系最密切，透过词汇的文化伴随意义，可以看到文化里渗透的性别歧视。本文将从熟语、人名两个方面谈谈英语中对女性性别歧视语言的词汇特征。 2 女性性别歧视语言的词汇特征 2.1熟语 熟语按其性质可分成谚语、俗语等六类（王德春，1997：144）。本文仅讨论前两类。 2.1.1 谚语 谚语是人类智慧的结晶，语言简洁的化身。语言学家把它形象地比喻为“民族之明镜”，“语言活化石”（杨永林，1987：37）。谚语作为观念文化的产物和语言的组成部分，无疑会折射出性别歧视的思想意识。 汉语里的“三个女人一台戏”说的就是女人多嘴多舌，英语里也有类似的说法：Three women and a goose make a market.在英语谚语里，描写女人多言的谚语似乎跟鹅结下了不解之缘。比如：Many women, many words; many geese, many turds（鹅的粪多，女人的话多）；Where there are women and geese, there wants no noise（有女人有鹅，把耳朵都能吵破）。（徐超墀，1983）
高中英语作文：关于性别歧视 The date of March 8th reminds people of the importance of women, for they give birth to the children and the contribution they make to the family. Nowadays, more women have got the respect and certain rights. But gender discrimination still exists, for both men and women. 3月8日这个日期提醒了人们女性的重要性,因为她们生孩子,对家庭做出了贡献。如今,越来越多的女性得到了尊重和某些权利。但是性 别歧视仍然存有,对于男性和女性来说。 For the discrimination on women, it is easy for people to notice this problem. In the last century, the word feminism was created and many women fought for the respect. Now most women have grown into the new generation, they are confident and independent. But in some aspects, women are still struggling for the equality with men. Such as the pay in job and the chances to work. 人们很容易注意到对女性的歧视这个问题。在上个世纪,人们创造 了女权主义这个词,很多女性争取得到尊重。现在绝大部分女性已经成 长为新一代,她们自信并且独立。但在某些方面,女性仍在争取与男性 平等。比如工作酬劳和工作的机会。 For the discrimination on men, which is easily to be ingored. When people see a man who dresses the colorful clothes, or polishes his nails, they will laugh at him,for this is a girl thing and a man should not do it. Men are considered to be different from women in their acts. Actually, men have the right to do what they want, but the public opinion limits them.
英语语言中的性别歧视现象分析研究 摘要：语言是文化的一部分，是文化的载体，并对文化起着重要作用，而男性和女性的种种差异也必须通过语言传达出来。英语作为一个为世界上许多国家所讲的语种，在很大程度上存在着语言上的性别歧视。本文通过称谓、词法、语法、语义四个方面对性别歧视现象做一详细讨论，最后对这种现象形成的原因进行阐释，进而从语言释义的角度寻求女权维护的渠道。 关键词：性别歧视；称谓；词法；语法；语义 一．语言中体现的“男尊女卑”观念概述 语言是社会发展的产物，也是社会生活的一面镜子，从中国父系氏族时期，就孕育了“男尊女卑”的观念，然而“男尊女卑”并非中国独有，在标榜人权、平等的西方国家也广泛存在。现代女权运动轰轰烈烈的发展形势正是对这一男女不平等现象的反抗和反映。近几年来，世界各地关于男女平等的呼声越来越高，可以说社会生活的各个领域都感受到了这一时代趋势。语言当然也要顺应历史的发展而向前发展，但英语语言中的性别歧视又是颇具意义的语言障碍。假设能够列举英语语言中性别歧视现象的诸多表现形式，分析其产生的原因，并就如何解决这一问题提出中肯建议，将对女权运动的深入开展以及社会的和谐发展产生深远影响。 二．语言中性别歧视的表现形式 1.称谓及构词法中的性别歧视 在英美社会中，性别歧视现象根深蒂固。对妇女的歧视，首先表现在社会以男性为出发点，男性的意志常常就是整个社会的意志。例如男女取名方面就有很大差异：女性名字常取之于弱小的动物。如：fawn(幼鹿)，jeminni(鸽子)，Vanessa(蝴蝶)等；而男性的名字则多取之于与上帝、武器、搏斗有关，或与学问、权威、名誉有关。如Jerome(神圣生活)，Michael(似上帝)，Edgar(华美的矛)，Giles（盾），Abraham(圣母)等；再比如：男英文符号为He，再看女，英文符号为She,从称谓的表现形式来看，明显可以看出，She是在He的基础上添加附属符号“s”而生成的，这足以证明女性是依附于男性而存在的；在社会习俗上，对未婚的女子称Miss(小姐)，婚后改称Mrs(太太)，而对男子不论婚否一概称之为Mr(先生)。Mrs和Mr的构词方式与上述例子完全一致。这些都是对女性的偏见和歧视。再看一例，男性英文符号为Male,而女性则是“Female”,很明显女性是在男性基础上加上符号“Fe”而衍生的，这又一次验证了英文在构词法上的“男尊女卑”现象。
摘要 语言与性别研究一直是语言学家关注的重要课题，国内外诸多的语言学家都对语言中性别歧视这一现象进行了深入研究。语言是现实社会的一面镜子，能够真实地反映这种社会习俗及价值观念，而作为语言中的精华——谚语更是浓缩了文化的内涵。本文以女权主义为视角，侧重于对性别歧视在英语谚语中的现象进行研究。 本文首先结合国内外学者对语言中性别歧视这一现象的研究，并结合这些研究探讨英语谚语中性别歧视现象，指出谚语与性别歧视的含义与特点；再从性格、言行、才智、婚嫁、地位等五个方面指出性别歧视在英语谚语中的具体表现；然后从历史、社会、文化三个不同的角度分析了性别歧视在英语谚语中形成的根源，通过对谚语的分析揭示语言中对女性的歧视，从而提高人们关于性别歧视的意识，帮助人们减少，继而消除在日常生活以及语言中的性别歧视现象；最后指出性别歧视在英语谚语中的发展趋势。 关键词：英语谚语；性别歧视；表现；根源；发展趋势
ABSTRACT The language research in relation to gender has remained on the important topic in linguistics. Lots of linguists who show interest in this field have done many deep and profound researches. Language, a mirror of the real world, could give us a reflection of social customs and values. And the proverbs, the essence of language, are actually a concentration of culture. The thesis aims at specializing in sex discrimination reflected in the English proverbs from the feminist perspective. Combined with some researches on sexism in English proverbs by scholars home and abroad, the thesis firstly points out the meanings and features of proverbs and sexism. And then the thesis explains the manifestations of sexism through a study of the proverbs applied in English from five aspects: character, words and deeds, ability and wisdom, marriage and social status. Then the thesis has also investigated into the causes of sexism from three aspects: history, culture, society. Through the research on English proverbs, the thesis tries to reveal the sex bias against women in language, and find out solutions to help people reduce and eliminate the sexism in the daily expressions. Finally, the thesis points out the development trend of sexism in English proverbs. Keywords：English proverbs; sexism; manifestation; causes; development trend