Language and Sex

Language is powerful. Words can elicit strong emotions, can lead or mislead, can control the minds and lives of everyday people. This is why feminists have looked to our language to find gender biases. Without a doubt, language is sexist. There are countless examples that show the preference of men in the English language. From words such as “history”, which contains the male pronoun “his”, to “woman” which is obviously derived from “man.” The former example shows the archaic idea that it is men who change the course of time and women have no independent effect. The latter is most likely derived from the idea that Eve was created from Adam’s rib and hence women are simply a derivative of men. However, does society truly need to change language? Is it not enough that we change the ideas of society (which has not yet fully happened) and not waste time and resources? Are not people rational enough to know that language does not imply truth but that language is simply a reflection of past values in society? In general, people are rational and the sexism in our language should not cause the feminist fight to reverse, however, an important idea should be noted. If language truly is a tool of power, then gender biases only gives misogynists (of which there always will exist) an additional opportunity to rationalize their misguided views and to further propagate their views. So although the general population is rational enough or perhaps apathetic enough not to care about defeating sexist language, it is important that is done, if only to defeat a possible tool for the rationalization of hate.