Sexism and the English language

I Study the active vocabulary and focus on Ukrainian equivalents of English words.

double standard подвійний стандарт

pay gap різниця у заробітній платі

bubbly живий, енергійний

vivacious життєрадісний

airhead дурник

simple простодушний

bossy який полюбляє командувати

assertive напористий

gossip плітки

inherent властивий

feisty цілеспрямований

flyweight боксер у легкій вазі

heavyweight боксер у важкій вазі

imply мати на увазі

figurative переносний, фігуральний

literal буквальний

hence отже

condescension поблажливість

academic вчений

work of fiction твір художньої літератури

female жіночий

character персонаж

male чоловічий

landed gentry помісне дворянство

domesticity сімейність

shiver тремтіти

murmur бурмотіти

mutter бурчати

grin скалитися

chuckle посміюватися

determine  визначати

description опис

prediction прогноз

blurred розпливчастий

intend мати намір

avoid уникнути

convey передавати

articulate сформулювати

scour нишпорити

evocative що викликає почуття

offence  образа

    

 II Vocabulary focus. Study the words and  word combinations, check your understanding using flashcards, practise their translation, spelling. Check your knowledge in the test. Play matching vocabulary game (match words to their translations to make cards disappear)  and save the planet from asteroids by typing in correct translation of the words.

III Watch the video and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

Trouble; condescension; choose; Polish; heavyweight; transcribe; airhead; characteristics; boxer; gender; words; gossiping; gender;  different;  hear;  men;  describe;  bubbly; literal;  implying;  women; Google; flying; German; double; use; example; sample; European;  feisty; gross; tender; attention; bossy

Women and men face 1)______ standards. No, I don’t mean just the 2)______ pay gap, I’m also talking about the 3)______ words we use to 4)______ men and women with the same 5)______. While he is described as ‘charismatic’, she’s often described as ‘6)______’ or ‘vivacious’. You wouldn’t describe him as an 7)______, he’s just ‘simple’, she’s an airhead. She’s 8)______, he’s assertive.

        9)______ are far more likely than men to be described as 10)______. If you don’t believe me, after this film try a 11)______ Images search for ‘gossip’. Unlike French, 12)______, Spanish, 13)______, practically any other 14)______ language, English doesn’t have 15)______ inherent in most of its words. But some of those 16)______ become gendered anyway when we 17)______ different words to describe 18)______ and women. ‘Feisty’ is a classic 19)______. It’s rare to 20)______ a man described as 21)______. Sure, you could hear about a feisty 22)______, but it’s a lot more likely to describe a flyweight than a 23)______. That’s why some women hear feisty is 24)______ a kind of figurative or 25)______ smallness in them and hence a note of 26)______.

IV Watch the video and fill in the gaps in the text.

1)_____ from the University of Illinois and the University of California   analysed over a 100,000 works of 2)_____ written between 1800 and 2010. They 3)_____ words connected to male or 4)_____ characters and the actions they 5)_____. The study showed that the word ‘6)_____’ used to be a strongly male 7)_____ in the 1800s. House was associated with the landed gentry in the Victorian 8)_____, but as the 20th century 9)_____ house became a slightly more female term 10)_____ with domesticity. The writer Ben Blatt found that the 10)_____ most associated with the pronoun she in classic fiction are ‘shivered’, ‘wept’, ‘murmured’, ‘11)_____’, and ‘12)_____’. The most commonly associated with he are ‘muttered’, ‘grinned’, ‘13)_____’, ‘chuckled’, and ‘14)_____’. An algorithm used by those academics who studied ‘house’ tries to 15)_____ the character’s gender based only on the 16)_____ used in descriptions in dialogue. These predictions were 17)_____ 75 % of the time for 18)_____ written around 1800, but that falls to just about 65 % of the time in books written 19)_____ 2000. In other words, the 20)_____ used to describe women and men is becoming more blurred, for the gender 21)_____ like ‘feisty’ are less 22)_____ than they used to be. Nearly all words have different 22)_____ of meaning. While the speaker intends the 23)_____ one, the hearer often hears the negative one. That’s a good 24)_____ to avoid compliments that convey a note of 25)_____.

-         Lane, you are so articulate!

-        Really?

Scouring your 25)_____ for evocative language isn’t easy, but working hard to be 26)_____ and to avoid giving unwanted 27)_____ can only be a good thing.

VI Watch all parts of the video and answer the questions.

1 What gender stereotypes are mentioned in the video?

2 Where do we find those gender stereotypes?

3 What adjectives can be used to describe woman’s personality? What adjectives are associated with man’s characteristics?

4 Does English language have the same category of gender as other European languages? How do words become associated with describing women and men?

5 What did the study of literature demonstrate about the use of words to describe male and female characters?

6 According the video what actions are typically associated with female and male characters in works of fiction?

7 What are the associations of the word ‘house’? What were the associations of this word in the past?

8 Can gender stereotypes in language change? How can people see or study this change?

9 What kind of words can seem offensive because they rely on gender stereotypes?

 VII Look at the text in previous tasks. Restore the collocations. Find the contexts the collocations were used in the texts. Use 3 collocations in your sentences.

double		smallness
gender pay		gentry
classic		condescension
feisty		gap
literal		meaning
a note of		era
works of		offence
landed		standards
Victorian		boxer
shades of		surprise
convey a note of		fiction
evocative		example
unwanted		language

  

VIII Vocabulary game. Check your knowledge of words and expressions used to speak about English language and its characteristics.

1) Focus on the words and expressions (study definitions) 

https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-2859916

2) Match the terms to their definitions  https://www.studystack.com/picmatch-2859916

3)Solve the crossword using active vocabulary   https://www.studystack.com/crossword-2859916

4) Complete the quiz by choosing correct definitions  https://www.studystack.com/quiz-2859916

5) Chase down the correct answer to earn points  https://www.studystack.com/hungrybug-2859916

6) Unscramble words and phrases (correct order of letters) https://www.studystack.com/wordscramble-2859916

7) Type in words to fill in the blanks https://www.studystack.com/fillin-2859916

8) Test your knowledge of  vocabulary

https://www.studystack.com/test-2859916

IX OVER TO YOU. Think of the similar words in your native language. Are there gender stereotypes in your native language? What are they? What words are traditionally associated with female and male characteristics? Are they the same as in the English language? Choose one newspaper or news website in your native language and study the verbs that are used to describe men and women (e.g. 12% verb 'run'). What actions do men perform according to this newspaper or site, what actions are associated with women? Discuss your findings with your group mates in class and compare your results.