论英语中的性别歧视

景德镇陶瓷学院科技
艺术学院
本科生毕业论文（设计）
题目：Sexism in English Vocabulary
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements…………………………………………..
Abstract in Chinese…………………………………….
Abstract in English…………………………………….
1.Definition………………………………………………
2.Sexism in word-formation methods………………..
2.1 Suffixes………………………………………… .
2.2 Sexism in compound words……………………..
3.Sxism in Naming and Addressing…………………..
3.1 Sexism and Naming……………………………….
3.1.1 Sexism in the first names………………..
3.1.1.1 Derivation of Female Names from Male Names……..
3.1.1.2 Sexism in Semantic Naming of First Names……….
3.1.2 Sexism in the family names……………
3.1.2.1 Patrilineal System of Family Names
3.1.2.2 Change of Female Family Names upon marriage
3.2 Sexism and Addressing……….
3.2.1 Sexism in Addressing Terms…..
3.2.1.1Female Social Titles upon Relationship with Mal e…
3.2.1.2 Derogation of Female Honorific Titles…………….
3.2.1.3 Abusive Addressing Patterns………………..
4.Sexism in Proverb and Slang……………………………..
4.1 Sexism in Proverb……………………………………………
4.2 Sexism in Slang………………………………………
5. Conclusion……………………………………………………..
6. Bibliography……………………………………………………
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to Professor Hou Xiaohua,my supervisor,for her constant and inspiring guidance and encouragement.She has walked me through all the stages of writing of the thesis.Without her constant and illuminating instruction,this thesis could not have reached its present form.
Second,i would like to expree my heartfelt gratitude to all the teachers who taught me when i have striving for my Bachelor Degree for their excellent lectures and inspiring ideas.
Last, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years.I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis
摘要
英语不仅是一种语言工具，也是一种意识形态工具。

性别歧视这一文化观念反映在语言的词汇学中。

牛津高级字典是这样解释的：“不平等的对待人，尤其是对女性，因为她们的性别”。

本篇论文将从英语词汇构词法、词义、称谓语及谚语和俚语分析英语词汇中的性别歧视。

所以对性别歧视了解的越多，避免的困难也就越多。

这是很有实际意义的。

关键词：语言；英语词汇；性别歧视
ABSTRACT
English is not only a language tool, but also an ideological tool. V ocabulary of the language can faithfully reflect the culture it serves such as sexism.The oxford advanced learner's dictionary explains it as below: the unfair treatment of people, especially women, because
of their sex.This article will discuss sexism that exists in English lexicon in terms of word formation ,word meaning ,naming and addressing terms ,as well as proverb and slang terms.So the more you know it, the better you will avoid trouble. Therefore, the present research has important practical significances.
Key words：language；English word;sexism;
1.Definition
Sexism，according to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s English
-Chinese Dictionary is defined as prejudice or discrimination against people
(esp.woman)because of their sex ;and according to Longman Dictionary of Comtenporary English ,sexism is defined as ideas and believe that menbers of
one(usually man) sex are more able and clever than theode of the other sex .It is manifest in all forms of behavior from subtle gestures and especially language to exploitation and oppression，and in all human institutions from the family to the multinational corporation(Paula S．Rothenberg 1988：21)．It affirms the dominance of men over women，jnst as Rosemary Radford Ruether(1993：165)holds that“sexism is gender privilege of males over females．It is males primarily who have originated this form of oppression，benefited from it，and perpetuated it，legally and ideologically．”In this sense，it keeps women in second．classstatus，denies them their rights to control their own bodies，and denies personal，mental，and physical safety；it reinforces the false notion that any man who is gentle，flexible，compassionateor gay becomes“feminine”and thereby loses status and respect．
2.Sexism in word formation
Word formation is one of the elements in language from which we can find many examples of sexism.The most obvious one is the word “history”,which it combines words “his”and “story”.It claimed that the history belonged to man not the woman.In general,it is divided in to two categories,adding suffixes and compounding.
2.1 Adding suffixes
Adding -tress is common among words like ,actress,authoress,sculptress and waitress.Although it sometimes awarded some outlanding achievements of women,the importance of its role isn‟t the same as man.For instance,we usually call a man of a general manager,rather than a general manageress.The highest rank of poet in British is Poet Laureate,which it award to every distinguished poet including both males and females.Howerever,rarly had it probably honored a poet of Poetess Laureate. Word like hostess is widely accepted by people in bar ,which its meaning had been degraded.The same as in the terms of Jewess\Negrss and Quakeress
The suffix of -ette includes three meanings .The first one aims at small size,such as “cigarette(香烟)” and “kitchenette(小厨房）”.The second level is artifical ,such as
“Leatherette(人造皮）”.The third level derives from the last two meanings which discloses the oweakness of woman and subordinates to man.As a result ,it discininates against woman obviously.Woman are unfairly treated.Duing the turn of 19 century and 20 century ,“Suffragette”was frequently used by women who wanted to strive rights for women.However,the public and media used it with derogation.
Words like aviatrix(女飞行员），executrix(女执行官）and dominatrix(母夜叉) added the suffix of -trix,which all present an insular prejudice towards women.Women are so weak and fragile that they need obey to men.
2.2 Sexism in compound words
In addition to sex discrimination in suffixes,compounding is a good example too.Take word-formationof common words made by “man” and “woman”for example .on one hand,there are a great many words with “man”,like human,policeman,chairman,businessman,sportsman,superman,mankind,postman,Engl ishman,airman,salesman,clergyman,kinsman,countryman,etc.Even the word “woman”is made up of “man. All these words should refer only to the male,while in fact,the meanings of these words also cover woman,which is obviously unfair to the female.Actually,this kind of words are regarded as masculine words in grammar.According to the point of view in English history,it inherits word-formation principle of Latin and old English in grammar gender.So such kinds of words empasize masculine in word structure.At the sametime,it also stresses that all things are done by the mmale, not the female in practical use.
That is quite unfair to the female.On the other hand,in social life,pepole always regard women with discrimination.If a woman is engaged in noble cases,she will face much more difficulties than men.And the following meaning of words also show that the words made up of”woman”mainly emphasize the characteristics of women who are engaged in some kind of profession or belong to a certain of sector.For example,
(1)Womankind: female human beings
(2)Chairwoman: a woman presiding officer of an assembly meeting,committee or board
(3)Womanpower:the power of woman physcial strength
(4)Policewoman: a woman who is in a member of a police force
(5)Womanhood:the state of being a woman;woman
(6)Horsewoman:a woman horseback rider
3.Sexim in Naming and Addressing
Spender(1985:24) notes: one of the features of English language practices which are inherently sexist is the use of naming and addressing terms.”Naming and addressing terms play an important role in interpersonal communication.They are continuously used in our daily life hence the social and cultualfactors encoded in them are very valuable for us to explore.
3.1 Sexism and Naming
Naming system usually includes first name,middle name and family nam,such as “William Jefferson Clinton”.First name such as”William”in the example,is otherwise known as Chtistian name,forename or given name.Middle name
like”Jefferson”in the example occurs betwwen the first name and family name as the second forename,and is usually represented by its capitalized initial letter and is often used in formal occassions.Family name is known as Surname,or last name,which is a name shared in common to identify the mumbers of a family,which is usuallyinheritedfrom the ascending generation on the paternal side,such as‟Clinton”in the example.This part will discuss the sexist phenomena in the first and family name on the basis of the analysis of their semantic features.
3.1.1Sexism in the first names
Giving first name to the infant is one of the most important tasks.First name is truly a lifetime gift from parents;it helps define the children within the family,school and the outside word.Hence an analysis of sexism in first names is very significant. 3.1.1.1 Derivation of Female Names from Male Names
In English lots of female names derivate from male names by adding affixes for example,Stephen-Stephanie,Dana-Dana.Affixs play an important role in the formation of female names.After researching affixes used to refer to female in English,Mills(1995:93)claims that those affixes lead to a view of women as a derivation from a male universal norm and the female form is seen as the marked term and the male as the unmarked term.Therefore,it is not a surprise that female names would have some consistent marker bias.Many female names derive of male ones by addingthe suffixes “-a”(or “-ia” due to phonetic reason), “e” and “-line” to them.like Albert and Alberta 、、Alex and Alexa、Daniel and Danielle、Gabriel and Gabriell and Paul and Pauline etc.
First corresponding with the above, research has shown that male names differ fromfemale ones in two major aspects. Firstly, male names are shorter in spelling than female names according to the research, There are many male names are formed with one syllable such as Jim, Fred, John, Bob and Jack, while only few female names are one syllable. Furthermore, fewer female names have three or more than three syllables, such as Roberta, Victoria and Amand. Part of the explanation of this study lies in the fact that many female names are originated from male names by adding one or more syllables.
Secondly, male names are phonologically different from female ones. This thesis finds that majority of male names are ended with consonant phonetic symbol in which some male names end with the stops [d], [t], [k] such as Robert, Richard, Jack; while only two femalenames do, namely, Brooke and Jade. However, most of female names analyzed endedwith a vowel [i], [i:], [ə], such as Mary and Anna, but only a few male names do so.Cutler argues (1990: 476), “Small vocal tracts such as [i], [i:], [ə], which producehigh-pitched sounds, are typically possessed by smaller, weaker, less threateningbeings.” Therefore, the frequent use of [i] in such female names as Tracey, Mary andBonnie, and [ə] in Rita, Selina and Lisa, reflects “smallness and lack of threat are heldto be desirable attributes of females”.
Theoretically, the practice of deriving female names from male ones forms the contrast in which men are dominant and women are subordinate in society and meanwhile it is in accordance with the belief in Bible that woman was created from a rib of man.
3.1.1.2 Sexism in Semantic Meaning of First Names
The names that people give their children show the hopes and dreams they have for them and also reflects their parents‟ hope and expectations for their children. So from their first names,we can know the different attitudes of parents to boys and girls. First names for girls and boys often reflect stereotyped features of feminity or. masculinity prevailing in a particular culture or society.
It is undeniable that first names contain various connotations and this thesis will make an effort on the sexism in name‟s connotat ion In our society the vast majority of first names carry clear feminine or masculine connotations. People no matter in the East or West attach great importance to marking the child‟s sex when choosing a name for him or her. And in baby naming book, there might be two lists: one for girls and another for boys. According to it, parents are recommended to choose a name that identifies the child‟s sex. Besides marking the sex of the child, first names for girls and boys often reflect stereotyped features of femininity and masculinity prevailing in culture. More female names contain the connotation associated with appearance while more male names contain connotation associated with wealth, power, wisdom and intelligence. It reflects the sexist expectaton that male should improve internal quality and female should pay more attention to external beauty.
3.1.2 Sexism in Family Names
Family names are passed down from generation to generation, it symbolizes the blood relationship and development of a family. From the way of giving family names, it is not difficult to find the sexism.
3.1.2.1 Patrilineal System of Family Names
When women were born, they were given their fathers‟ name and adopted their husbands‟ names upon marriage. It‟s only sons who carry on their fathers‟ name forever, whereas women lost this capacity when they got married. This stresses the portrayal of women as the prosperity of men, passed from father to husband. They just have no freedom to own their own names. US Senator Hilary Clinton. Either way she names herself after a man－her father or her husband, or both.
Children typically inherited their fathers‟ rather than their mothers‟ family names, which enables fathers but not mothers to achieve a direct continuity of naming from generation, provided they have sons. Even if there are only daughter, however the derivation of female forms from male names enables the transmission to continue. It‟s very common for women in English-speaking countries to adapt their husbands‟names upon they got married. Thus women are said to“marry into families and families are sad to …die out‟ if an all-female” generation occurs.
Thus, Spender comments:“Practically”, it means that women‟s family names don‟t count and there is one more device making women invisible.”
In the ceremony, the, the official asks,“ Who gives the bride away?”and the father answers. “I do”, or “Her mother and I do”, but that does not solve the problem inherent in the idea that a bride is something to be handed over from one man to another.
3.1.2.2 Change of Female Family Names upon Marriage
When a woman is referred with her husband‟s name, as in “Mrs. John Smith”,
she is rendered both subordinate and invisible. For example, when a woman named Helen Keller marries to a man named John Fords, She is submerged by being called Mrs. John Fords. Even the woman is of high social status; it is the same with her. One of the candidates in 2008 Presidential Election of the United States of America, Hilary, the former president of Bill Clinton‟s wife, kept her maiden name “Hilary Rodham” after marriage. But in order to help her husband in the election, she had to change her names. Though allegedly a feminist, she has shifted between naming herself Hilary Rodham, Hilary Rodham Clinton and Hilary Clinton.
Despite the fact that some countries no longer legally require for women to adopt their husband‟s names upon marriage, women who do not conform to this practice still face many practical and attitudinal obstacles.
3.2 Sexism and Addressing
3.2.1 Sexism in Addressing Terms
Addressing term is a mark that indentifies the relationship of people in social activities, which can present our ideal and social ties. It is used frequently in the communication. According to different criteria, address forms can be divided into different classifications. They can be divided into: social titles, occupational titles, endearments, abusive terms,kinship terms etc.
3.2.1.1 Female Social Titles upon Relationship with Male
Mr、Miss and Mrs are used frequently when we refers to address someone in social communication. All adult men are called Mr, however women have different addressing terms after they get married. As we know, marriage and age is private. The title of Mrs indicates that women are reluctant to disclose his marriage condition, which is unfair to women.In addition to this ,when adapting the Mrs, her family names do not belong to her own ,but her husbands‟."Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher and Nobel Prize Lady Marie Curie did not change this condition. These two famous persons still surbodinated to men.
人们在社会交往中称呼某个男性或女性个体时，最常使
用的是Mr、Miss 和Mrs。

对所有成年男性都统称为Mr，而对于
成年女性则有已婚和未婚的不同称谓。

众所周知，婚姻和年龄
一直都是涉及到个人隐私的话题，而Mrs.这一称谓公开宣布
了女性不愿意表明的婚姻状况，让女人永远都得不到和男人
能够平起平坐的对待。

更有甚者，当使用Mrs.的时候，女性使
用的不是自己的姓氏，取而代之的是丈夫的姓，表明自己已经
嫁给了某人，即使是一代名相“铁娘子”撒切尔夫人和诺贝尔
物理奖的居里夫人也没有改变这种现象，这两位女强人虽闻
名世界却仍旧摆脱不了被的问题。

这一语言现象正
是由于人们认为男人是世界的主宰，而女人只是男人的附属
3.2.1.2 Derogation of Female Honorific Titles
In the male-orienated society, people honor high stature to men solely, for instance chairman、spokesman and policeman. However when woman gets achievements in her career, she will be regarded as an example. Such as words, doctor、lawyer can both designate the same state or condition as it did for men. However,it is a convention for people classifying them into male-dominated society.
for examp le, “master” and “mistress”. In an earlier society, master and mistress were simple male-female equivalents meaning “one who has control over or ownership of something or has control over another or others”. With the changing of society, “master” now gener ally refers to a man who has power over others or who has acquired skills in some field. But its feminine counterpart cannot be used in this way. It is practically restricted to its sense of “paramour”, a woman who a man has a sexual relationship with, but is not married to. For example, “He is a master of intricacies and academic politics”, and “Catherine declined to be his mistress, and returned to her husband”.
3.2.1.3 Abusive Addressing Terms for Female
Abusive terms of address are unfriendly and insulting terms to address others; convey quite unpleasant affections. There are two major types of words that are most likely to serve as abusive addressing terms which females are humiliated. Examples of the first type are: “wanton” is used to address a w oman who is immoral, lewd, and unchaste. The second type are associated with such words as ass, pig, rat, tigress, duckie, shrew, turkey, cow, goat which is closely connected with the figurative meanings of such foods, plants and animals.
A. Foods
The food terms have not escaped the
process of derogation, which often associated with women show women‟s passive image and subordinate status. The following are some examples:
cheesecake—a picture of a naked lady;
dumpling—short and fat women;
mutton—indicating a n elderly lady dressed up as a young girl in “mutton dressed (up) as lamb”;
sweet-pie—a mistress;
tart—a prostitute or women behave frivolously or a woman considered to be sexually;
B. Plants
Plants names are involved in addressing male or female. But the semantic prototype of male is a gigantic tree while that of female is flowers. Plants names are used to address females, they often have insulting meaning as follows:
clinging vine—a woman who overly depends on a man emotionally;
shrinking violet—a shy woman;
wall flower—a woman who has no one to dance with.
C. Animals
When you use an animal name for a female, usually they are smaller animals like “kitten”, “bunny”, “chick” which are more likely to become pejorative; and others like “chicken”, which more likely to acquire sexual suggestions. Male, however, are referred to as being a tiger, moose, or even as a bear to show aggressive masculine attribute and dominance to female. When you use an animal name for a female, usually they are smaller animals
like “kitten”, “bunny”, “chick” which are more likely to become pejorative; and others
like “chicken”, which more likely to acquire sexual suggestions. Male, however, are referred to as being a tiger, moose, or even as a bear to show aggressive masculine attribute and dominance to female. The following are examples:
(a)For females
bitch—a woman considered to be spiteful or overbearing or a lewd woman; butterfly—a showy or frivolous person (esp. a female);
cat—a malicious or spiteful woman or an evil woman;
chicken—prostitutes;
(b)For males
goat—an old man who is sexually active or a lecherous man;
loin—a brave, strong, or fiercely cruel person (usu. of males);
tiger—a fierce, determined person (esp. males);
wolf—a man given to paying unwanted sexual attention to women or a satyr.
From the example discussed above, we could conclude that names of foods, plants and animals used to address female are sexist, because most of them humiliate female from the perspectives of appearance, personality and identity and meanwhile imply that female is inferior to male or easy to be obtained by male.
4. Sexism in English proverbs
English proverbs reflect the social customs and cultural perceptions of the English-speaking countries. Since sexism is embodied in human culture, English proverbs unavoidably reflect sexist discrimination. This essay penetrates into sexism in English proverbs from three perspectives, namely status, personality flaws, and demands on women.
4.1 Sexism in English proverb
There are many proverbs t hat indicate women‟s low condition in society and her vulnerability in family .The following examples are classified into three kinds a.Social status and family status
Man, woman and devil are three degrees of comparison.
(男人、女人和魔鬼，三个等级分贵贱。

)
If the husband be not at home, there is nobody. (丈
夫不在家，等于说没人。

)
A woman‟s advice is never to seek. (女人的建议一文
不值。

)
A woman of no birth may marry into the purple. (夫荣
妻贵。

)
A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat
them, the better they‟ll be. (拳脚之下出好妻，棍棒之下
有义犬，胡桃敲打多结果。

)
A man is a man though he have/has but a hose on his
head. (家贫袜当帽，仍是男子汉。

)
A man of straw is worth of a woman of gold. (稻草男
儿抵得上金玉女子。

)
A fair face is half a portion. (姿色颜，嫁妆半。

)
Since the acient time ,women were suppressed under the low social status and suffered a lot. They subordinated to men and acted as an animal for men beating.
b. vulnerability characteristic
(1)Women are fragile
Frailty , thy name is woman. (脆弱啊，你的名字是女
人。

)
Woman is made to weep. (女人生性爱流泪。

)
A woman and a glass are ever in danger. (女人易毁，
玻璃易碎。

)
A woman is the weaker vessel. (女人是易碎的器皿。

)
It is no more pity to see a woman weep than to see a
goose go bare foot. (女人哭如鹅光脚走路，根本不值得可怜。

)
(2)Women are changeable.
A woman is a weather cock. (女人是风向标。

)
A winter weather and women’s thoughts change oft. (秋
天的云，女人的心—变化莫测。

)
Women are wavering as the wind. (女人心思犹如风之多
变。

)
There’s nothing sooner dry than women’s tears. (什
么也没有女人的眼泪干得快。

)
(3)Women are noisy and troublesome.
A woman’s tongue is the last thing about her that
dies.
Where there are women and geese, there wants no
noise. (哪有鹅和女人，哪不缺喧闹声)
Foxes are all tail and women are all tongue.
Three women and a goose make a market. (三个女人一只
鹅，市场里面闹哄哄。

)
A woman’s tongue wags like a lamb’s tail. (女人饶
舌如同羔羊摆尾。

)
Words are women, deeds are men. （女人的嘴巴，男人的
行动。

）
(4) Women are deceptive, pretentious and evil.
Every woman would rather be beautiful than good. (女
人爱美不重德。

)
Tell a woman she is fair, and she will soon turn
fool. (跟女人讲她长得漂亮，很快她就会晕头转向。

)
Bad woman are worse than bad men.
Trust not a woman, when she weeps.
Bad women can do more than the devil.
Women are the devil’s nets. (女人是万恶之源。

)
There is no devil so bad as a she-devil. (魔鬼当中女
人最坏。

)
3.Traditonal requirments
The smell of an onion from the mouth of the lovely
is sweeter than that of a rose in the hand of the ugly. (美女口中葱蒜臭，胜过丑女手中玫瑰香。

)
Husbands are in heaven whose wives scold not. (老婆
不唠叨，丈夫就像生活在天堂里。

)
A simple maiden in her flower is worth a hundred
coats of arms. (正值芳龄的纯洁少女值一百枚勋章。

) Beauty without virtue is like a rose without scent. (美而无德犹如花无香味。

)
Silence is the best ornament of a woman. (女子文静，
不须治容。

)
Maidens should be mild and meek, swift to hear, and slow to speak. (少女尚温柔，多听慢开口。

)
Modesty is the ornament of women. (稳重为妇女增美。

)
A good wife and health are a man’s best wealth. (贤
妻与健康是丈夫最佳财富。

)
从古至今，女性都处在被观赏和被品位的地位，在男性占主
导的社会中，女性被要求既要上得厅堂，又要下得厨房，既要有貌，又要有德，既要纯洁，又要贤淑。