social isssues

social isssues

Sexism and Language: How woman are treated differently from men.
Since the beginning of history, sexism has always been a prominent barrier between
sexes. The notion that women are not on the same level as men has always been in existence. In
fact, sexism also takes place right in our small country, The Bahamas. Our society has made a
tremendous amount of alternations over the years. The way we dress, educational system and
even the music we prefer to listen to. However, we fail to realize that our language has altered as
well. After attending a seminar entitled "Fresh persons and Fire Fighters", I was able to fully
comprehend how sexism is included in language. In this seminar, Dr. Cuzran’s main idea
displays how language can change and sexism is indeed included in language. We all know that
men and women are indeed different. They look different, act different, walk, talk, and even
smell different. The simple fact is that we are different explains why we sometimes have trouble
communicating with and understanding the opposite sex. However, a close look at our language
may show that there is more to the communication barrier between the sexes.
English Language can be very biased towards woman. What word do we use to name our
species? We are human or mankind. Within the human species, we have male and female, man
and woman, he and she. Notice what these words all have in common, all the female names is
joined on to the males name. In the 1980s both men and women were called by using the word
"He". Ms. Cuzran stated that language is a big part of who we are and what shapes us. This can
be seen for example when someone says "going to see the doctor", majority think of a male. Whylly 2
Otherwise if someone says "the nurse will see you now", majority would think of a female.
However women can be doctors and men can be nurses right? Dr. Cuzran also stated that there
was a profession called authoress. However, women questioned this because the word...

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