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1、Abstract In our society, women are often regarded as the weaker sex and are looked down upon. This gender bias can also be found in the English language. Such language is called sexist language. This paper is devoted to the study of sexism in the English language and on how to avoid sexism.To start
2、with, the thesis analyses the phenomena of sexism in English by using universal evidence, and they are shown and discussed in four aspects: English proverbs, English expressions, English vocabulary and the meanings of English words. Then the thesis traces the reasons for the occurrence of sexism in
3、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. Lastly, the thesis introduces two feasible strategies
4、 to erase sexism in English language, and they are: language reform and social reform. The most important one is to erase the sexist conceptions and improve womens status, respect and support them. The language transformation can be realistic on the basis of the social reform.Keywords: sexism; pheno
5、menon; factors; strategies摘要 在我们的社会中.妇女通常被认为是弱势群体而被轻视。这种性别歧视现象同样体现在英语语言中.这种语言被称为性别歧视语言。本文着重分析了英语语言中的性别歧视现象以及如何避免这种现象。首先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。接着论文剖析了英语中性别歧视现象形成的根源。从本质来说.英语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。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
6、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；现象；原因；策略Table of Contents.Introduction.1. Phenomena of Sexism in English Language.22.1 Sexism in English Proverbs and Idioms.22.1.1 Role Category.32.1.2 Marriage Category.32.1.3 Manner Category.42.2 Sexism in Names.
7、42.3 Sexism in English Vocabulary.52.3.1 Generic Masculine Words.52.3.2 The Derogation of Female Words.52.3.3 Sex Discrimination and Job Titles.62.2.4 Word Order.62.4 Sexism in the Meanings of English Words.7. The Causes of Sexism in the English.83.1 Cultural Factor.83.2 Physiological Factor.83.3 So
8、cial Factor.93.4 Psychological Factor.10. The Strategies of Eliminating or Avoiding Sexism in English.114.1 Language Strategies.114.1.1 Population of Neutral Words and Expressions.114.1.2 Avoiding of the Generalization of Masculine Word He.114.1.3 Ms. as an Alternative to Both Mrs. And Miss.124.2 So
9、cial Strategy.12.Conclusion.14Works Cited.16Acknowledgements.1717 / 21I. IntroductionLanguage is a mirror of the world. Everything is reflected in the mirror. In English countries, though people advocate equal rights for everyone, there are a lot of inequities, such as unequal rights between men and
10、 women, which are also reflected in the mirror of language. This phenomenon is called sexism in the English language. Sexism, in the Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese dictionary, it means that disapproving action based on the ideas or belief that the members of one sex are less intelligent, a
11、ble, 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 suitable for women and others are suitable for men. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines sexism as discrimination based on gen
12、der, especially discrimination against women; attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender.From these definitions, we can find that sexism is the practice of discriminating against people because of their gender.Sexist language expresses unfair assump
13、tions and differences, and it can be either explicit, as in the prejudicial use of male or female pronouns, or implicit. Using universal evidence, the thesis here reveals how often English expresses sexist assumptions about differences between men and women.Just as a proverb goes in England: If you
14、see an old man, sit down and take a lesson; if you see an old woman, throw a stone. what expresses English version of the sexism prescribed for women, is particularly confining. In fact, woman in the world no matter in which country she lives, the roles designated to them is unfair in the society. L
15、anguage is also a social phenomenon, and it has a close relationship with the social life, the language is used in a specific social group and it is not only the carrier of the ideological content, but a mirror of social life, it reveals peoples traditional thoughts that sex discrimination against w
16、omen in the society.From the development and 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 reflect the social phenomenon? The first person who did research on the gender and language i
17、s the Denmark linguist Otto.Jespersen, he regards English as the most masculine language which is a man centered language. The domestic scholars and experts, Yang Yonglin, Bai Jiehong, and so on, have done thorough research about sexist element in the English language, they also have introduced some
18、 feasible strategies to erase the sexism, but they just have done thorough research from the languagestrategy 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 from peoples minds.English, as on
19、e of the most widespread languages, its sexist element shall not be suitable to theintercultural communications, but there is massive discrimination in it, people should pay much more attention to the sex equality and the improvement of womens social positions. Understanding the sexist phenomenon in
20、 English language helps people study the language culture, and correctly treat the changes of the language in the historical development. The thesisemphatically introduces and analyzes the specific phenomena of sexism and also provides corresponding strategies that can be used to eliminate sexism in
21、 English language. Phenomena of sexism in English LanguageThe paper presents the sexist phenomenon, which is very universal in English language. And it is shown and discussed in four aspects: English proverbs, English names, English vocabulary and the meanings of English words.2.1. Sexism in English
22、 Proverbs and IdiomsProverbs are the broad masses of the social practice undertakes the experience and understanding of things the highly generalization and refining, and they are the treasure house of folk literature. English proverb as an important component of the English language, which can refl
23、ect a nations geography, history, social system, social viewpoints and attitudes,will also belittle women.And followings are some usual phenomena of the sexist language in English proverbs.2.1.1Role categoryWomen are considered as delicious food in the society, the roles of women in the society and
24、culture in every country are very passive, but men are active, for example: A man of straw is worth of a woman of gold, If husband be not at home, there is nobody.The sentence long hair and short wit头发长见识短expresses women is lack of wisdom, but men are clever, another example goes like this: when an
25、ass climbs a ladder, we may find wisdom in women 12, the sexist language expresses women are lack of wisdom and they are capricious.2.1.2Marriage CategoryIn relation to marriage, there is much linguistic evidence showing that weddings are more important to women than to men. Many proverbs reflect su
26、ch feudal consciousness that girls are not important in a family. For example: it is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock, Marry your son when you will, your daughter when you can, It is harder to marry a daughter well than to bring her up well. 12 Such examples have revealed women a
27、re inferior and subordinate to them.2.1.3 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 of her mouth, while man is valued for his physical strength and accomplishments. For insta
28、nce: Words are women, deeds are men Husbands are in heaven whose wives scold not A persuasive piece of evidence supporting this view is that female eponyms relate closely to a womans physical anatomy, while the masculine eponyms have nothing to do with the namesakes body, but instead, honor the man
29、for his achievement and accomplishment.2.2. Sexism in English NamesA Name is a kind of symbol for people to distinguish each other. Apart from that, it does not have other social functions, However, in fact, when people are choosing names, they always bring their subject ideas and social attitudes i
30、nto consideration.In English-speaking countries, children usually follow their fathers names, and women usually follow their husbands names. In addition, names are also influenced by social value attitude.Generally speaking, people can judge the gender from the name. Womens names usually use the wor
31、ds meaning beautiful, graceful, and lovely. For example, Lily is the name of a kind of flower: Susan comes from the Hebrew language and means graceful and kind; Diana stems from the Greek language, with the meaning of goddess of the moon, and it is a symbol of beauty, grace and dignity. However, the
32、 meanings of mens names are very different from those of womens names, and they reflect the characteristics of firmness, bravery, desire for freedom, and full of dreams and ambitions. For example, Richard stems from the Saxon language, meaning strength; Andrew originates from Greek with the meaning
33、of courageous and frank; Lewis comes from French, and has the meaning of the protector of the people. 2.3 Sexism in English VocabularyEnglish has gradually formed the tendency that the expressions referred to the male generalize the ones pointed to the two genders during its development. Although pe
34、ople do not mind to discriminate against women during their communications, the phenomena that people discriminate against women reflect the gender bias of society, and sometimes, women feel insult from other people. Moreover, some expressions structure that elaborate the meanings of discriminating
35、against woman have emerged, and therefore people call English a sexist language.2.2.1 Generic Masculine Words The third person pronoun he is partial to male in language use. He, his, and him refers to male, but when we dont know the sex of the person, he, his, and him can generally refer to the whol
36、e human beings, which is a rule in English. For instance, every student has to make up his own mind. Although the total number of woman exceeds 50 percent, the proportion of he and she existing in literature is 4:1 according to the statistics. Spender incisively describes such phenomena: Now she rep
37、resents a woman but he is mankind .If she enters mankind she loses herself in he. 7 Besides, to begin a letter, people often use the words referred to man summarize man and woman when they do not know the receivers specific sex of the people, for example, in formal letters, people often use Dear sir
38、 or Dear gentlemen, but do not care for the receivers sex. The sexism exists in every field, so people should pay much attention to the sexist phenomenon in the language.2.2.2 The Derogation of Female WordsLanguage has a tendency to neglect women, treat women as submission and also demean women. Dur
39、ing the development of English, many female words meanings have taken place during the history. For example, governor, in old English, it referred to the person in charge of a particular unit, and now it keeps the same meaning. However, the relative word governess means another thing, it has changed
40、 its former meaning from family tutor into prostitute, and another example, master and mistress referred 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 many other words, lord and lory, sir and Madam
41、e, temper and temptress. The female words have changed their former meanings and they have been endowed with a belittled meaning, which is the sexist reflection in English language.2.2.3 Sex Discrimination and Job TitlesInferior job titles refer to both genders, but higher ones only refer to male. In English, there are both feminine words and masculine words referred to the inferior jobs in social status. For instance,waiter and waitress, steward and stewardess. But when referring to the higher post titles, there are only masculine words, such as
