Study on Sexism in the English language

汪洋

I. Phenomenon of Sexism in the English Language

A. Sexism in Proverbs and Idioms

Sexism in the English language is also reflected in the proverbs and idioms. Proverbs， as we all know are little sayings—self-sufficient pearls of compressed wisdom .As one of the varieties of English language， proverbs reflect its social customs and cultural connotations. The culture of sexism is naturally exists in English proverbs. There are many cases can prove this reality， such as：

Foxes are all tail， and women are all tongue.

A fickle thing and changeful is women always. （Chen Wenbo， 1982： 39）

B. Sexism in the Metaphor

Language serves as a tool to allow us to communicate with other people. To this end， language holds two purposes： to communicate what we know and also what we want to know. So if we identify some thing in a language， such as sexism or other forms of prejudice， this only reveals a prejudice that exists in society. Language， in particular metaphor， helps form social reality. There are many metaphors to describe a female. But often it has a totally different meaning. For example：

chick ——young girl，kitten ——active and young girl，bitch——shrew，cat ——ugly， hussy and annoyed woman，dragon ——stubborn woman，hen ——troublesome woman， cow ——prostitute. （Chen Wenbo， 1982： 89）

C. The Generic Pronoun

The most significant manifestation of the sexism is in the use of generic masculine pronouns “he” and its variants “his”， “him” and “himself” in such sentences as：

（1） He who laughs last laughs best.

（2） Everyone must do his homework well.

II. Reasons of Sexism in the English Language

Because of the social and cultural factors， women are always considered to be the weak. People treat women as inferior to men. They educate men to be manly， decisive， and brave while women are required to be polite， conservative， obedient， and gentle. The superiority of men and inferiority of women is clearly seen. The Holy Bible is actually a book of men. As Christianity is such a powerful religion in Western countries， it is unreasonable to deny that this helps to set and consolidate the inferiority of women.

III. Elimination of Sexism in the English language

A. Alternatives to Avoid Generic Masculine

The gender-neutral third person pronoun they and its variants should be used with a singular meaning. The proposal makes it possible to say： Every good citizen should love their country more than themselves； they should be ready to die for it if the need arises.

Changing the whole sentence into plural form can also help to avoid sexism. Look at the sentence： Anyone can take part in the picnic if he is interested. It is discriminatory. So we can change it into a nonsexist one： All people can take part in the picnic if they are interested.

B. Alternatives to Addressing Terms

Addressing terms are very important in our daily communication， and gender discrimination certainly has some influence on them. In English， there are many addresses used to look down upon the females. In order to solve the problem， there are some strategies that may help：

Firstly， dont introduce some female through her husband， e.g. Jim Green and his wife Helen； Chairmans wife Daisy Brown.

Secondly， dont use terms which belittle women as wives or otherwise， e.g. the better half， the little woman， the weaker sex， the fair sex， dumb blondes， （womans） libber， and so on.

Thirdly， try not to use the traditional form of address such as Dear Sir， Dear Gentleman when writing to someone of unknown sex.

IV. Conclusion

Since human being appeared on the earth， there have been existing two different genders-----male and female. On account of the differences between their physiological features and the superiority and inferiority in social activities， men and women are different from each other in individuality， value， image and status， which give rise to variations in their language styles and language uses.

Feminism has been one of the main social movements since the1960s， and there is no doubt that this movement will continue in this century. Its impact is felt in many societies around the world and in many spheres of life. Language was and is seen by many feminists as a powerful instrument of patriarchy.

However， the elimination of linguistic sexism lies in social change. Only by changing the social structure till one day when women and men own really equal status can language equality be truly achieved. Therefore， linguistic action and social action should be taken simultaneously for the purpose of eliminating sexism in language.

Bibliography

[1].Bales， Robert F. Interaction Process Analysis. Cambridge， Mass：Adoson-Wesley，1950.

[2].Chen Wenbo. English and Chinese Idioms[M]. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 1982.2000（10）.

[3].朱越. 論英語詞義的變化 [J]. 四川外語學報. 1995（2）.