Read the discussion on Flickr regarding sexist language at:http://www.flickr.com/groups/flickrideas/discuss/72157603414562419/ How do you respond to their comments in light of what your textbook says?
Public
speakers are more effective when they avoid sexist language.
A.
Avoiding sexist language is a matter of accuracy in public speaking.
1. In today’s world,
most gender stereotypes are outdates and incorrect.
2.
Being accurate in such matters is just as important as being accurate
in other aspects of language.
B.
Avoiding sexist language is also vital to audience adaptation.
1.
Almost every audience a speaker addresses will include people-men and
women alike-who are offended by sexist language.
2.
In this respect, as in others, an effective speaker will adjust to
the values and expectations of the audience.
C.
There are four nonsexist usages that have become so widely accepted
that no aspiring speaker can afford to ignore them.
1.
The first usage is to avoid the generic “he.”
2.
The second usage is to avoid “man” when referring to both men and
women.
3.
The third usage is to avoid stereotyping jobs and social roles by
gender.
4.
The fourth usage is to avoid unnecessary or patronizing gender
labels.
The You Attitude means avoiding language that discriminates because
of gender, age, disability, ethnicity/race, and sexual orientation
We can also avoid biased language that pigeon-holes people for other things besides culture that they don't necessarily have control over, including gender, race, religion, handicaps, and age.
Can you see the bias in these sentences?
‰ Any applicant for the position of fireman must submit a medical report signed by his physician.
‰ Let's try harder to meet our older customers' demands for personalized service.
‰ Despite her cerebral palsy, Cheryl Kama was promoted to office manager.
The biggest problem with these sentences is that they focus on something that really has nothing to do with a person's ability to do a job successfully. Here are the sentences, corrected and explained:
‰ Any applicant Applicants for the position of fireman firefighter must submit a medical report signed by his their physician physicians
Using the degendered term "firefighter" for the old-fashioned "fireman" and
eliminating the sexist "he" pronoun by casting the subject "applicant" into the
plural eliminate the maleness of this sentence.
‰ Let's try harder to meet our older customers' demands for personalized service.
The word "older" implies that these customers are somehow more
unreasonable, and that's certainly not true. After all, don't ALL customers
deserve better service?
‰ Despite her cerebral palsy, Cheryl Kama was promoted to office manager.
Focusing on Ms. Kama's physical challenges diminishes the dedication and
intelligence she must've put into the job to be worthy of her promotion.
I found very interesting article about it, you can check the next website:http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/hurley/modules/mod5/5_docs/bias.pdf
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