Generic Male Language
In literature, the use of masculine language to refer to both men and women may indicate a male or androcentic bias in society where men are seen as the 'norm' and women as the 'other'. Some examples are forms of address (such as "Hey guys" or "Dear Sirs") and masculine nouns and pronouns (such as 'mankind', 'man' or 'he') to refer to both men and women. Philosophy scholar Jennifer Saul argued that the use of male generic language marginalizes women in society. In recent years, some writers have started to use more gender-inclusive language (for instance, using the phrase "he or she", and using gender-inclusive words like humankind, person, businessperson, fire-fighter, chairperson and police-officer).
Many Latin-based languages in the world are also male-centric. For instance, in Spanish the word padres (plural of 'father') means 'parents', abuelos (plural of 'grandfather') means 'grandparents', and chicos means either 'boys' or 'children'. Pluralized nouns are, if describing a mixed-gender group, assigned male word-endings, pronouns, and adjectives. This dominance of the masculine grammatical form in formation of the plural is a property also of Italian and French.
Many studies have shown that male generic language is not interpreted as truly 'gender-inclusive.' Psychological research has shown that, in comparison to unbiased terms such as “he or she” and “humankind,” masculine terms lead to male-biased mental imagery in the mind of both the listener and the communicator.
Three studies by Mykol Harrison show that there is not only a male → people bias but also a people → male bias. In other words, a masculine bias remains even when people are exposed to only gender neutral language (although the bias is lessened). In two of her studies, half of the participants (after exposure to gender neutral language) had male-biased imagery but the rest of the participants displayed no gender bias at all. In her third study, only males showed a masculine-bias (after exposure to gender neutral language) — females showed no gender bias. Harrison asserted that this may be due to the fact that males have grown up being able to think more easily than females of “any person” as generic “he,” since “he” applies to them.
Feminist anthropologist Sally Slocum argues that there has been a longstanding male bias in anthropological thought as evidenced by terminology used when referring to society, culture and humankind. According to Slocum, "All too often the word 'man' is used in such an ambiguous fashion that it is impossible to decide whether it refers to males or just the human species in general, including both males and females."
Read more about this topic: Androcentrism
Famous quotes containing the words generic, male and/or language:
““Mother” has always been a generic term synonymous with love, devotion, and sacrifice. There’s always been something mystical and reverent about them. They’re the Walter Cronkites of the human race . . . infallible, virtuous, without flaws and conceived without original sin, with no room for ambivalence.”
—Erma Bombeck (20th century)
“To be sure he’s a “Man,” the male must see to it that the female be clearly a “Woman,” the opposite of a “Man,” that is, the female must act like a faggot.”
—Valerie Solanas (b. 1940)
“The world does not speak. Only we do. The world can, once we have programmed ourselves with a language, cause us to hold beliefs. But it cannot propose a language for us to speak. Only other human beings can do that.”
—Richard Rorty (b. 1931)