Reaction to "Sexism and Language"

The reading opened my eyes to the realities of sexism present in our language. I never realized how words have such charged connotations. There are expressions I have used several times in the past and others that I am very familiar with, however, the underlying context present in these words have not come to mind until reading this text.

I agree with the author’s comparison of connotations of words that relate to either men or women. For those that relate to men, words connote power. For those that relate to women, these words connote weakness and inferiority to the opposite sex. I also think that it is unfair for women to be perceived to be weak or to be described negatively through the use of animal names that degrade women.

I guess this has originated from the male-dominating society that has been present for generations. For years, men have been perceived as the stronger sex. They are the breadwinners of the community while women were mere objects and servants to the needs of men. Presently, however, I think that women are slowly being treated more equally with men as the value of human intellect progresses.

However, I do not think that gender biases will be completely eradicated. When one thinks about the current situation of both genders, both women and men have something to complain about regarding their sex and society’s treatment of them because of it. Women complain about biases in the work force. There are companies that tend to hire men over women. Women are more emotional. This is caused by hormonal changes as one goes along her menstrual cycle. This cannot be avoided but is still an unavoidable part of life. Women promote feminism but at the same time, complain that men are no longer chivalrous. There’s a fine line between chivalry and the double standard, in my opinion.

To conclude, I do think there are biases against women in language. However, there are biases against men as well. Both cannot be fully eliminated for both have lasted for many years. Also, for them to be eradicated from our language, the concepts they have been based upon must be taken out as well, and this is impossible since these bases are ingrained in the social, psychological and biological makeup of the members of society.