16. Gendered Voices in Children's Television Advertising

It seems that the sexism in advertising doesn't begin at the adult level. From this article I ascertained that the techniques to focus advertising towards a specific gender also include age. As a child I never noticed the gender biased language that was more than likely extremely prevalent in my youth. However, as I continued reading I started to think about ethnicity and the lack of analysis in this area in regard to commercials. Growing up multi-ethnic, I already had an identity crisis occurring. I lived with my white mother, but looked like my Mexican father I only saw on the weekends. Like most children that come from a mixed race family, the need to identify with one parent is overwhelming. In my case, I wanted to look like my mother because that was who was most popular on television. As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent a lot of time in front of the television. Not only was I subjected to gender bias in advertising, but I was overcome with a need to be like the majority of women I saw in commercials and programming, an ethnic bias, if you will. This need to identify with the images that surrounded me was also a form of social acceptance. If I looked and acted like these women then I too would have the protective white man to defend me from the evils of the world, or at least a bald man with an earring that could make my linoleum floor sparkle.

15. Gender Issues in Advertising Language

My formative years were in the 1980's. I imagine this to be the time when the benefits of the feminist movement were being felt by society. I also spent a lot of time in front of the television while my mom worked. This seems like a double edged sword after reading this article. One benefit of the feminist movement was that many more women were encouraged to enter the job market and seek professional careers. One disadvantage, for me, was that since my mom was working more, I was left alone in front of the television. As sexist ads infiltrated my living room, I did not have the guidance to discern the derogatory language and images that determined my identity as a young girl. I believe that the conscious effort of advertisers to use gender-neutral language is pertinent to the development of positive self-esteem, whether for females or males.

14. The Epicene Pronoun: The Word That Failed

I think it is a lame excuse to prefer the sentence, "Everyone loves his mother," over "Everyone loves their mother," just because one is too lazy to say, "Everyone loves his or her mother." Because isn't that what it comes down to, laziness? Like any concept, language is meant to evolve to adjust to the changing cultural climate, not remain stagnate to appease the grammatical politics of a sexist society. So, the argument that using "his or her" is "ugly and cumbersome," has nothing to do with rules of number agreement, but based on the fluidity, or lack thereof, when spoken out loud. Really? That's all you got? Even today, the usage of non-gendered words like "chairperson" or "police officer" are said by some as a form of political correctness, a humoring of those who prefer these terms, instead of a concentrated effort to create equality in language.

13. Beyond the "He/Man" Approach: The Case for Nonsexist Language

As a writer and an English major, language is the medium I choose to express and identify myself. In essay writing I have learned to use "one" when referring to the reader i.e., "one would assume when reading this..." instead of a gender specific term. What I find just completely silly is the opposition to changing the apparent sexism in language, even in our civilized society. Isn't it obvious that by bombarding children with only one gendered option to identify with in literature or school curriculum, specifically "he/man," that this creates an exclusion of female identification? I don't know, maybe I'm one of those man-hating feminists who believes in equality only for women, that men should suffer the consequences of their world dominated oppression, or maybe I am a peace-loving-equality-for-all-people-lover who has hope for the whole world. Or, maybe I'm a little bit of both.

11. This New Species That Seeks a New Language: On Sexism in Language and Language Change

I remember being a teenager in the late eighties and early nineties when my mom embraced her feminist perspectives and taught me that I could accomplish anything I wanted. She explained the importance of using "chairperson" instead of "chairman," or "spokesperson" instead of "spokesman." I didn't see the true value in this lesson at the time, but as I became older, transitioning from junior high to high school, the differences in language became more apparent to me. I made a habit of using a gender neutral terms in place of a sexist one and stood behind my reasoning even when it wasn't a popular idea in my middle class conservative school. From these experiences I became more aware of myself as a contributing member to the feminist movement by standing up to the norm. I believe by continuing to participate in the subjugation of women through language, society is doing a disservice to generations of women to come.