What do teachers really teach us? Do we have the right to choose what we learn? As a second language speaker we were taught that, there are different words designed for men and women, but I never questioned what these words really meant until I researched them for my recent presentation. The more that I looked at the words the more I understood that there was a strong negativity towards women. So, I am speaking from experiences, not only mine, but also others, who are like me, have been taught the language but didn’t really learn it.
English is the language of sexual connotations. As a woman, as an English speaker, and as someone who believes in equality, I do not want these connotations in what I say. However, whether one means to or not, there is really no escape from these implications. What is a master? Why are you all assuming that I am referring to a man? What about a mistress? Why is this female version of the same word so often associated with infidelity? So many questions. Because we don’t realize that the languages is arranged so that men are identified with glorified and exalted positions, but the language is similarly arranged to associate women with service-oriented positions ,where we are being dominated and instructed by men.
Sexy or successful,[ pause, put on sexy voice] ,why not both[wink]? As women, we first and foremost are valued for our attractiveness and sexiness of our bodies, whereas men are valued for their physical strength and accomplishments. This inequality can make obtaining jobs and earning respect difficult for women. This can be seen through an example of ISPP community, why did we never have a female principle? Is this because we, as students, we would not respect her for her authority? If a school is so diverse, and is unable to find equality among men and women, how can we hope for women of the twenty first century to obtain equal wages, healthcare benefits, and above all respect?
You are your gender. Right now, all of you are subconsciously categorizing each other by their gender, subconsciously believe that men are superior to women, also believing that women are inferior to men, and thus subconsciously giving men more credit than perhaps they deserve. In the ISPP community we have a multitude of cultures and the segregation of gender through language reaches beyond just the English language. Allen Pace Nilsen, a writer and an administrator at Arizona State University once said,
“The language that a culture uses is telltale evidence of the values and beliefs of that culture.”
The mixture of ISPP lends its self to recognitions of different cultures, but all of us must keep in mind the negative gender stereotypes could be offensive. Is it really our responsibility to eliminate these labels and find equality within our society? So is the solution gender natural language?
As a member of the world, a member of the ISPP community, and most importantly a member of the female gender, we live in an unfair World, a very prejudiced world. Almost everything we say, we do, we see, we hear can be put into one of the three categories, sexism, racism or prejudice against people. How sad is that! [Really bitchy white girl]
Today, I am standing here with courage, talking to you all, stating our inequality in society, and hoping to bring to the attention of those of you who have not realized as women, we are powerless in relationships, employment, economics and society in general. It might take a month, a year, a decade or even a century to get everyone to understand, and until we have learned to challenge society and gain equality for our own benefit, these would never happen and English language will remain bias.
