ICESI UNIVERSITY
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
PROFESSOR: RAMÓN VERSAGE
JUAN DAVID CABALLERO

GENDER AND LANGUAGE: THOUGH PIECE

It is remarkable how gendered language affects perceptions in our society. This phenomenon has been a research topic for many years. Sociolinguistics have shown interest in describing the differences in language use between women and men, and studies of the cultural roles ascribed to gender. This paper gender of language of Holmes and Meyerhoff aims at explaining the distinction between language and gender and how language supports, enforces, and maintains attitudes about gender in general and women in particular. Before starting off, it is of utmost importance to make a distinction between gender and sex to gain a better
We are talking about gender identity and gender expression. Our gender identity is simply the label we adopt to define who we are in terms of gender: transgender, cisgender, genderqueer, boy, girl and so on. On the contrary, gender expression is the things we do, we say, and wear to convey to others our gender identity. Let’s give an example, like an actor in a play, one is given a part (gender identity), and uses scripts, costumes, and interactions with others to play that part (gender
According to Maltz and Borker (1982) girls tend to engage in pairs or small groups, they construct an intimate friendship, loyalty, equality and support, whereas males choose to work in larger and hierarchically organized groups. Regarding power and dominance, we know that women in a patriarchal system have a low social status and position, it is noticeable the social inequalities between males and females, in my opinion, this triggers off problems due to the unequal hierarchical statuses and gender roles held nowadays in society. However, I sometimes wonder, is language sexist? According to Holmes and Meryerhoff, it is realized that there is a specific “language” that is used by men and women. For example, the words beautiful and handsome, what if I employ the word beautiful for men? what if I employ the word handsome for women?, as far as I know in the English language handsome is used only to describe males and beautiful is used only to describe females, if I say, he is beautiful, it sounds weird, I think this would cross the boundary, that is why following Holmes, we come across that women and men develop different language use patterns, women tend to use linguistic devices that stress solidarity more often than