浅议英语中的性别歧视及其社会根源 [9]
论文作者:陈端燕论文属性:短文 essay登出时间:2009-04-03编辑:黄丽樱点击率:19482
论文字数:6958论文编号:org200904031730061001语种:中文 Chinese地区:中国价格:免费论文
关键词:sexismEnglish languagesocial roots性别歧视英语语言社会根源
led every living creature, that was the name of thereof.
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.
And the LORD GOD caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the LORD GOD had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my fleshes: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.[10]
From above, the superiority of men and inferiority of women is clearly seen. It was man who came to the world first and woman was created just as a helpmeet for him. American writers Casey Miller and Kate Swift also said: “woman is not one with the species of man,” but “a distinct subspecies.”[11] And the name woman, according to the Bible, simply meant “she was taken out of a man.” So at the very beginning of the Bible, man is taken as superiority while woman is inferiority. Besides, in the Bible, almost all the influential figures are men. The most powerful one, the God, is called father. Then come his son Jesus Christ, and the others, such as Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt; Abraham, the ancestor of the Jews, who answered God’s call and went to settle in Hara. Women were confined at home, doing chores and giving birth to children. Actually, the Holy Bible is a book of men. As Christianity is such a powerful religion in Western countries, it helps to set and consolidate the inferior position of women. So religion has long been criticized for effectively weaken women’s existence through language style choice.
After long history of discrimination against women, women continue to be treated poorly because of customs, mores, and social norms that developed over many centuries. To wipe out the thoughts out of people’s mind is much harder than whipping up a waffle. [12]
3.2 Causes in social reality
In society, there exist various kinds of discriminations against women. Apparently, language reflects this social reality. [13] The author will trace linguistic sexism to social factor through labor division and socialization.
3.2.1 Labor division
Early in the human history, the society went through two periods – matriarchal society and paternal society. In matriarchal society, women were dominant in economic life. So women had a higher social status than men. With the development of productive forces, men turned from fishing and hunting to agriculture and bred. Because men were stronger than women and women took much time and efforts to care children, gradually, men became more and more important in social economy. Finally, men had dominance over women, who had to be dependent on man. From then on, in paternal society, slavery society, feudal society and capitalist society, women have been on the bottom of society. Therefore, it is not surprised to see sexist words against women spread over and accepted. Though women liberation movement are carried out, though women are struggling for higher social status, though women’s role in the society are becoming more and more important, it is still a long and slow process for women to change their present social status.
3.2.2 Socialization
Socialization begins at birth, shaping people to behave in appropriate ways. Much of people’s behavior is the result of socialization. Children learn appropriate behavior th
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