RESOURCE FILES Chapter 5 Building Identity: Socialization
We live in a society in which virtually all institutions, organizations, and day-to-day interactions are built around fundamental differences between boys and girls, men and women, and masculine and feminine. Consider the gender distinctions in our language. Although English is not so grammatically gendered as, say, French or Spanish, gender pervades the language, as in the traditional use of the inclusive male pronoun he and the generic man in referring to both genders. Such words make females appear as exceptions. Female terms are often created as mere extensions of existing male terms by adding an ess or ette (for example, poetess, stewardess, majorette) or by using the words lady, female, or woman as noun modifiers (for example, lady doctor, woman lawyer, female engineer). Even the use of nongendered terms like congressperson or spokesperson implies that the individual being referred to is female. The fact that women's job titles are modifications of traditional male terms reinforces the cultural belief that most occupations are still the man's domain, with the woman being an exception to the rule. There's no need to call a man a male engineer or a male doctor, because the terms doctor and engineer already imply a male occupant. Our gender-biased vocabulary reflects and perpetuates underlying societal beliefs about the relative roles of men and women. To "mother" a child is to nurture, coddle, and protect that child; to "father" a child is simply to fertilize an egg. Similarly, a "governor" is an elected official who acts as the head of a state; a "governess" is one who cares for other people's children. In common usage, a "master" is one who rules over others; a "mistress" is a woman with whom a man has an extended extramarital affair.1 Men and women also differ in the ways they use language. Apparent gender differences in communication parallel gender differences in existing social arrangements. The common belief that women's speech tends to be more emotionally expressive than men's reflects the deeper cultural belief that women are the ones who are supposed to tend to relationships.2 One of the consequences of disclosing a great deal of information about yourself or openly showing your emotions is that it makes you less powerful.3 By linguistically overexposing themselves, women perpetuate the preexisting power differences between men and women. Some researchers argue, however, that certain gender-typed conversational behaviors, such as men interrupting more than women, are actually the result of power imbalances rather than inherent gender differences.4 1Richardson, L. 1987. "Gender stereotyping in the English language." In L. Richardson & V. Taylor (Eds.), Feminist frontiers II. New York: Random House. 2Lakoff, R. 1973. "Language and woman's place." Language and Society, 2, 45-80. 3Blau, P. M. 1964. Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley. 4See, for example, Kollock, P., Blumstein, P., & Schwartz, P. 1985. "Sex and power in interaction: Conversational privileges and duties." American Sociological Review, 50, 34-46. David Newman and Rebecca Smith.
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