15. KERSTIN LANGE, Binghamton University
Department of Anthropology
Binghamton University
Binghamton, N.Y. 13902-6000
Home address & phone:
5 Oak St.
Binghamton, N.Y. 13905
(607) 723-9337
About the course: Language, Sex and Gender (Anthropology 214,
cross-listed with Linguistics and Women's Studies)
Taught by Professor Robert K. Herbert as a summer course
since the mid-eighties; taught by me first in summer 1992, now in
spring 1993. 200-level undergraduate course.
Considering that gender and sex/sexuality are everywhere
(and thus within easy reach of students' reflection), and are
usually mediated by language, I find discussion vital to this
course. I try to get students to keep an open eye towards
newspaper/ TV reporting and to the ways in which gender
characteristics are represented (e.g. a local newspaper starting
an article with "The conversation among the women at XYZ agency
over coffee on Tuesday morning was no mere idle chatter" - a
conversation among men would not be described in this way).
Generally, I try to have roughly equal amounts of lecture and
discussion per class meeting, though I find that these should not
be strictly divided.
I start the course with presenting examples of cross-
cultural variation in concepts of gender and sexuality. This has
worked well to get students to think about the gender & sexuality
constructions prevalent in this culture and to reexamine
assumptions about the naturalness of such categories. We then
turn to the ways in which gender is significant as a social
category in this culture, e.g. how it affects a person's sense of
self, mobility, career options, pay, etc. Since students come
from a variety of backgrounds, I find it helpful to complement
the general discussion with the film "Still Killing Us Softly"
(by Jean Kilbourne) about the gender messages in advertising.
This helps provide a common starting point for discussion on
things that everyone is to some degree familiar with but may not
have examined to equal degrees.
About myself: M.A. in anthropology, spring 1993 (thesis on
emotions and human action). Interested in combining
psychological anthropology with social work, looking for contexts
(e.g. therapy or other forms of social work) in which to apply
this to conflict situations related to gender, sexuality, and
ethnic identity.
ANTH 214/LING 214/WOMN 233-WE SPRING 1993
LANGUAGE, SEX, AND GENDER
Tue, Thur 10:05- 11:30am S-II 138
Thur 6:00- 9:00pm SW 328
Instructor: Kerstin Lange
Office: Sci-1 221
Office hours: Wed 1:30-2:30, Thur 11:30-12:30
Language is the primary symbolic system by which we
structure our experiences. We will explore the relationships
between language and gender from a variety of perspectives.
Gender, itself a significant social category that affects us
daily, is intricately related to sexuality and biological sex.
How does language shape our ways of thinking about these
concepts? How are the social positions of women and men
reflected in language? How do social constructs, via language,
affect our views of ourselves as individual persons? In
examining these questions, we will draw on materials from
anthropology, sociology, psychology, and philosophy, while
keeping an emphasis on linguistic and cultural approaches. The
course is organized around the following central questions:
a) Language structure and the sexes: How does language
treat the sexes differently?
b) Language usage and the sexes: How do the sexes use
language differently?
c) Language and the sexes in social context: What effects do
these linguistic differences have in our everyday lives?
How does language reflect and recreate social reality?
Format: The class meetings will consist of approximately equal
amounts of lecture and discussion. As this field of study is
closely related to our daily lives, your questions, comments, and
relevant personal experiences/ observations will play an
important role in our explorations of the above questions.
Active class participation is therefore encouraged.
Requirements: There will be one in-class test and a take-home
final, each of which will contribute 35% to the final grade.
The format of the first test will be a combination of short
answer (true-false) and brief essay questions; the second will
consist of a number of essay questions. If you need to be absent
from a test, you need to inform me as far in advance as possible
and have a valid reason.
You will also be asked to complete a short field project,
which will count 30% to the final grade. Instructions will be
handed out and discussed in class.
LxC option: This course is supported by the LxC (Languages
across the curriculum) program. For students in section 1 of
this course, participation is voluntary; for students in section
2 it is mandatory. To participate in this program, students with
a reading ability of either French, Spanish, or German will have
the opportunity to read materials in one of these languages. The
assistance of language resource specialists who are native
speakers of these langugages is available. Participation in this
program will not increase your overall workload.
Textbooks: The following books are on order at the Bookbridge
(Vestal Plaza):
required
Cameron, Deborah 1992 (2nd ed.): Feminism and Linguistic
Theory. New York: St. Martin's Press
Cameron, Deborah (ed) 1990: The Feminist Critique of
Language. New York: Routledge
Graddol, David and Joan Swann 1989: Gender Voices. Oxford:
Basil Blackwell
recommended
Penelope, Julia 1990: Speaking Freely: Unlearning the Lies
of the Fathers' Tongue. New York: Pergamon Press
Piercy, Marge 1976: Woman on the Edge of Time. New York:
Fawcett Crest
Additional materials (some optional, some required) have
been placed on reserve at the Bartle Library reserve room.
Outline of topics and readings (somewhat tentative)
Date Topic Reading
Tue 1/26 General introduction and overview
of the course-discussion of central terms
Thur 1/28 LxC option explained; Graddol & Swann
The significance of gender as a Ch. 1
social category
Tue 2/2 Film: Still Killing Us Softly Bate Ch. 1
Cameron Ch. 1&2
Thur 2/4 The representation of women G&S p.95-120
and men in language I
Penelope p.101-119
Bodine (FCL)
Tue 2/9 The representation of women G&S p.120-129
and men in language II
Schulz (FCL)
Hofstadter
Penelope Ch. 2
Thur 2/11 The language of sexuality Sanday Ch. 5
Tue 2/16 Language, thought, and reality: Cameron Ch. 7
origins of linguistic determinism G&S p.146-155
Spender (FCL)
Penelope p.xxvi-xxx; xxxv-xxxvii
Thur 2/18 Language, thought, and reality: Cameron Ch. 8
semiology and French feminism
Black& Coward (FCL)- skim
Leclerc (FCL)
Tue 2/23 Man Made Language? Cameron Ch. 5&9
G&S p.157-173
Donovan (FCL)
Thur 2/25 Societal and psychological Bate p.87-93
implications of sexist language
Penelope Ch. 8
Tue 3/2 Instructions for class project
Intro to gender and language use: Lakoff (FCL)
Myths of "Women's Language" Jespersen (FCL)
Fishman (FCL)
Thur 3/4 LxC reports
Tue 3/9 Test #1
Thur 3/11 Gender and language use: G&S Ch. 3
sociolinguistic studies
Cameron Ch. 3&4
Tue 3/16 Conversational styles G&S Ch. 4
and strategies: same-sex and Sattel
mixed-sex conversations Jones (FCL)
Thur 3/18 Non-verbal communication Henley Ch. 7
Tue 3/23 Video: She Said, He Said
Tannen (TBA)
Thur 3/25 Child language (and identity) Coates Ch. 7
acquisition
Dinnerstein rev. Cam. Ch. 8
Tue 3/30 Language in context: the TBA
ethnography of speaking
Thur 4/1 Language, gender & emotion Lutz
Tue 4/13 Linguistic and cultural change Piercy
G&S Ch. 7
Penelope Ch. 11
Cameron Ch. 6
Thur 4/15 LxC reports
Tue 4/20 project reports; papers due
Thur 4/22 project reports; papers due
Tue 4/27 Language of science Keller
Thur 4/29 PC - free speech; sexist humor Heldke
Tue 5/4 review, wrap-up Cameron Ch. 10
Thurs 5/6 revised papers due
take-home exam handed out (due Mon 5/10 at noon)
Bibliography: Language, Sex & Gender
Baron, Dennis 1986: Grammar and Gender. New Haven: Yale
University Press
Bate, Barbara 1988: Communication and the Sexes. New York:
Harper & Row
Beneke, Timothy 1982: Men on Rape. New York: St. Martin's Press
Borker, Ruth, and David Maltz 1989: Anthropological Perspectives
on Gender and Language. Gender and Anthropology. Sandra
Morgen (ed.); American Anthropological Association
Cameron, Deborah 1992 (2nd ed.): Feminism and Linguistic Theory.
New York: St. Martin's Press
Cameron, Deborah 1990 (ed.): The Feminist Critique of Language.
New York: Harper & Row
Chalmers, Alan 1978: What is this Thing Called Science? An
Assessment of the Nature and Status of Science and its
Methods. Open University Press, Milton Keynes
Chodorow, Nancy 1989: Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory. New
Haven: Yale University Press
Coates, Jennifer 1986: Women, Men, and Language. New York:
Longman
Coates, Jennifer and Deborah Cameron (eds.) 1989: Women in their
Speech Communities. New York: Longman
Dinnerstein, Dorothy 1976: The Mermaid and the Minotaur: Sexual
Arrangements and Human Malaise. New York: Harper & Row
Eckert, Penelope and Sally McConnell-Ginet 1992: Think
practically and look locally: Language and gender as
community-based practice. Annual Review of Anthropology
21:461-90
Fausto-Sterling, Anne 1992 (2nd ed.): Myths of Gender.
Biological Theories about Women and Men. New York: Basic
Books
Ferree, Myra Marx and Beth B. Hess (eds) 1987: Analyzing Gender:
A Handbook of Social Science. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Publications
Frank, Francine and Frank Anshen 1983: Language and the Sexes.
Albany: State University of New York Press
Frank, Francine and Paula Treichler (eds.) 1989: Language,
Gender, and Professional Writing: Theoretical Approaches and
Guidelines for Nonsexist Usage. New York: The Modern
Language Association of America
Gal, Susan 1991: Between speech and silence: The problematics
of research on language and gender. Gender at the
Crossroads of Knowledge: Feminist Anthropology in the
Postmodern Era. Micaela diLeonardo, ed.; University of
California Press
Goodenough, Ruth Gallagher 1990: Situational stress and sexist
behavior among young children. Beyond the Second Sex. New
Directions in the Anthropology of Gender. Peggy Reeves
Sanday and Ruth Gallagher Goodenough, eds. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press
Graddol, David, and Joan Swann 1989: Gender Voices. Oxford:
Basil Blackwell
Gumperz, John (ed.) 1982: Language and Social Identity.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Heldke, Lisa 1991: Do you mind if I speak freely?
Reconceptualizing freedom of speech. Social Theory and
Practice vol. 17, no. 3
Henley, Nancy 1979: Body Politics: Power, Sex, and Nonverbal
Communication. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall
Hill, Jane and Bruce Mannheim 1992: Language and World View.
Annual Review of Anthropology 21:381-406
Hintikka, Merrill and Jaakko Hintikka 1983: How can language be
sexist? Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on
Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of
Science. Sandra Harding and Merrill B. Hintikka, eds.;
Boston; D. Reidel Publishing Company
Keller, Evelyn Fox 1982: Feminism and science. Signs 7:589-602
Keller, Evelyn Fox 1985: Gender and science. Reflections on
Gender and Science. New Haven: Yale University Press
Key, Mary Ritchie 1975: Male/Female Language. Metuchen, N.J.:
The Scarecrow Press
Kramarae, Cheris 1980: The Voices and Words of Women and Men.
New York: Pergamon Press
Kramarae, Cheris 1982: Gender: How she speaks. Attitudes towards
Language Variation. Social and Applied Contexts. Ellen
Bouchard Ryan and Howard Giles, eds. London: Edward Arnold
Kramer, Cheris 1974: Wishy-washy mommy talk. Exploring
Language (3rd ed., 1983) Gary Goshgarian, ed. Boston: Little,
Brown and Company
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson 1980: Metaphors We Live By.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
Lakoff, Robin 1975: Language and Woman's Place. New York:
Harper and Row
Langer, Suzanne 1944: Language and Thought. Exploring Language
(3rd ed.; 1983), Gary Goshgarian, ed. Boston: Little, Brown and
Company
Lucy, John 1985: Whorf's view of the linguistic mediation of
thought. Semiotic Mediation: Sociocultural and
Psychological Perspectives. Elizabeth Mertz and Richard
Parmentier, eds.; New York: Academic Press
Lutz, Catherine 1990a: Engendered emotion: gender, power, and the
rhetoric of emotional control in American discourse.
Language and the Politics of Emotion. Catherine Lutz and
Lila Abu-Lughod, eds.; Cambridge University Press
Lutz, Catherine 1990b: The erasure of women's writing in
sociocultural anthropology. American Ethnologist 17:611-625
MacArthur, L., and S. Eisen 1976: Achievements of male and
female storybook characters as determinants of achievement
behavior by boys and girls. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology 33:467-73
Maltz, David, and Ruth Borker 1982: A cultural approach to male-
female miscommunication. Language and Social Identity.
Gumperz, John (ed.); Cambridge University Press
Michel, Andre 1986: Down with Stereotypes! Eliminating Sexism
from Children's Literature and School Textbooks. Paris:
UNESCO
Miller, Casey, and Kate Swift 1991 (updated): Words and Women:
New Language in New Times. New York: HarperCollins
Mills, Anne 1986: The Acquisition of Gender: A Study of English
and German. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer Verlag
Mills, Jane 1989: WomanWords: A Dictionary of Words about
Women. New York: The Free Press
Moulton, Janice, G.M. Robinson, and C. Elias 1978: Sex bias in
language use: "Neutral" pronouns that aren't. American
Psychologist 33:1032-36
Newman, Joan 1982: Girls are People Too! A Bibliography of
Nontraditional Female Roles in Children's Books. Metuchen,
N.J.: The Scarecrow Press
Nilsen, Alleen Pace, Haig Bosmajian, H. Lee Gershuny, and Julia
P. Stanley 1977: Sexism and Language. Urbana, IL: National
Council of Teachers of English
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory Center for Sex Equality
1984: Bibliography of Nonsexist Supplementary Books (K-12).
Phoenix: Oryx Press
Penelope, Julia 1990: Speaking Freely: Unlearning the Lies of the
Fathers' Tongue. New York: Pergamon Press
Penfield, Joyce (ed.) 1987: Women and Language in Transition.
Albany: State University of New York Press
Perry, Linda et.al. 1992: Constructing and Reconstructing Gender.
Albany: State University of New York Press
Philips, Susan, Susan Steele, and Christine Tanz (eds.) 1987:
Language, Gender, and Sex in Comparative Perspective
Piercy, Marge 1976: Woman on the Edge of Time. New York:
Fawcett Crest
Poynton, Cate 1989: Language and Gender: Making the Difference.
Oxford University Press
Pusch, Luise 1984: Das Deutsche als Mnnersprache. Frankfurt am
Main: Suhrkamp
Rosenau, Pauline 1992: Post-Modernism and the Social Sciences:
Insights, Inroads, and Intrusions. Princeton University
Press
Sanday, Peggy Reeves 1990: Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex,
Brotherhood and Privilege on Campus. New York: NYU Press
Smith, Philip 1985: Language, the Sexes, and Society. New York:
Basil Blackwell
Spender, Dale 1980: Man Made Language. Boston: Routledge &
Keegan Paul
Swann, Joan 1992: Girls, Boys, and Language. Cambridge, MA:
Blackwell
Tannen, Deborah 1990: You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men
in Conversation. New York: William Morrow
Thorne, Barrie, Cheris Kramarae, and Nancy Henley (eds) 1983:
Language, Gender, and Society. Rowlet, MA: Newbury
Publishers
Trmel-Pltz, Senta 1982: Frauensprache: Sprache der
Vernderung. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag
Trmel-Pltz, Senta (ed.) 1984: Gewalt durch Sprache: Die
Vergewaltigung von Frauen in Gesprchen. Frankfurt am Main:
Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag
Wilms, Denise, and Ilene Cooper (eds) 1987: A Guide to Non-
sexist Children's Books. Vol. II: 1976-1985. Chicago:
Academy Chicago Publishers
Reviews
Housman, Judy 1982: Mothering, the unconscious, and feminism.
(Comments on various works by Nancy Chodorow). Radical
America 16: 47-61
Kramarae, Cheris 1988: Review of Women, Men and Language (by
Jennifer Coates, 1986). Quarterly Journal of Speech 74:381-
383
Kramarae, Cheris 1992: Review of Speaking Freely (by Julia
Penelope, 1990), You Just Don't Understand (by Deborah
Tannen, 1990), and Telling It: Women and Language across
Cultures (by Telling It Book Collective, 1990). Signs 17:
666-671
Perry, Linda A.M. 1991: Review of You Just Don't Understand (by
Deborah Tannen, 1990); Communication Quarterly 39:376-377
Rose, Ruth 1991: Review of You Just Don't Understand (by Deborah
Tannen 1990); Sex Roles 24:785-787
Shibamoto, Janet 1988: Review of Feminism and Linguistic Theory
(by Deborah Cameron, 1985), Nonverbal Sex Differences:
Communication Accuracy and Style (by Judith A. Hall 1984),
Language and Power (by Cheris Kramarae, Muriel Schulz, and
William O'Barr, eds., 1984), and Language, Gender, and
Society (by Barrie Thorne, Cheris Kramarae, and Nancy
Henley, eds., 1983). Signs 13:635-640
Thorne, Barrie 1993: Review of He-Said-She-Said: Talk as Social
Organization among Black Children (by Marjorie Harness
Goodwin, 1990), and Schoolgirl Fiction (by Valerie
Walkerdine, 1990). Signs 18:452-454
Language, Sex and Gender Spring 1993
ANTH/LING 214-WE/WMN 233-WE Test 1
Part I: Indicate whether each of the following statements is TRUE
or FALSE. (2 pts. each)
1. The use of singular "they" (e.g. "If someone calls for me,
tell them I'm not home") was first suggested by feminist
linguists in the late 1960's as an alternative to "generic he".
2. The statement "Most people use 'singular they' as a third
person pronoun" is an example of prescriptive grammar.
3. Muriel Schulz coined the term "semantic derogation" to argue
that over time, terms referring to females have undergone a
semantic change towards more negative meanings.
4. In the study by Condry & Condry described in class, boys
typically displayed more anger than girls, whereas girls
displayed more fear when presented with certain stimuli.
5. Benjamin Whorf argued that once a person has learned his/her
native language, it becomes impossible for this person to think
outside of the categories of that language.
6. Studies of color perception and -terminology have not provided
consistent support for the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
7. Linguists have established a close correlation between natural
and grammatical gender in most Indo-European languages.
8. The term "frigidity" was not always exclusively understood to
refer to women.
9. Dale Spender cites lexical gaps as evidence for her theory
that language is "man made".
10. Ferdinand Saussure's approach to language was synchronic.
11. A postmodern anthropologist would be more likely than a
semiologist to draw on psychoanalytic theory in his/her work.
12. Between 1950 and 1970, there was a trend in children's books
towards more male bias.
13. In Saussurean linguistics, "signifier" refers to sounds (e.g.
a word), whereas "signified" refers to a concept.
14. Black & Coward coined the term "language myth" to criticize
Spender's view that experience, rather than language, determines
meaning.
15. Cultural constructionist perspectives on gender emphasize
universal tendencies in male/female personality traits.
Part II: Answer five of the following questions - be succinct.
(10 pts each).
1. Surveys of dictionaries have shown that the English language
has more words to refer to men than to women. Julia (Penelope)
Stanley has pointed to one conspicuous area of exceptions. What
kinds of terms did she study, what were her findings, and how is
the marking of 'common gender nouns' (such as lawyer) affected by
this?
2. Briefly define (in one or two sentences each) five of the
following terms
a) negative semantic space
b) grammatical gender
c) lexical gap
d) linguistic relativism
e) Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
f) prescriptive grammar
3. Why does Peggy Reeves Sanday make a distinction between
sexuality and sexual expression? What is meant by "ideology" and
"discourse" in her discussion of fraternity sexual discourse?
4. Briefly describe the overall strategy used by Douglas
Hofstadter in A person paper on purity in language, as well as
three specific ways in which this becomes apparent in the
language of the paper.
5. What do Moulton et.al. (1978) mean by "parasitic reference"?
How does this relate to supposed generics like "he" and "man"?
6. Why is grammatical gender called "gender" and how does it
differ from natural gender?
7. What did Benjamin Whorf mean by "linguistic analogy" and how
did he use that concept to explain the different ways in which
speakers of English and Hopi think about units of time?
8. According to Lakoff & Johnson, what role do metaphors play in
people's behavior and worldviews? Give an example.
Part III: Answer one of the following (20 pts).
1. Jacques Lacan's conception of the relationship between gender
and language has been taken up favorably by some feminist
theorists.
a) Why? (What feminist criticisms of language does it
address?)
b) Why is Lacan's view of the meaning of the phallus seen as
problematic by other feminist theorists?
2. In what sense can a Saussurean view of language be seen to be
at the root of the "language myth" described by Roy Harris (in
Cameron)? How does Cameron's statement "Where there is no
determinacy, there can be no determinism" relate to this?
Anthro/Ling 214-WE/WMN 233-WE
Course Project (LxC)
Papers due: Thursday, April 22 (Section 2)
Papers must be written in English!
Papers should be 14-16 papers in length. Students will have the
option of revising their papers once. The revised papers are due
Thursday, May 6.
* Submit your chosen topic on a piece of paper by March 16 *
Choose one of the following types of project:
1. Write a critical annotated bibliography of the foreign
language readings you have done for this course. For each
reading, summarize the important points made by the author(s),
and evaluate them in light of class readings and discussions.
Where necessary, complement your discussion of LxC readings with
library research. (This topic is contingent on the number of
LxC readings available).
2. Choose a topic from the syllabus and discuss it on the basis
of both the regular class readings/ discussions for that topic
and the relevant LxC readings. LxC readings must make up at
least 50% of your sources. You may need to do some additional
library research to complement the readings selected by the
LRS's.
3. Take the perspective of an observer from another galaxy. You
are a staff psychologist in charge of writing a report on sex and
gender differences among Earth inhabitants. You have a general
idea of the appearance and biology of the two sexes. Your report
should focus on personality traits associated with each of the
two sexes. The sources of information available to you are a
dictionary of French/Spanish/German (your LxC language), a
thesaurus in that language, and those LxC readings addressing the
representation of the sexes in language (you may supplement these
with other sources from the library - check with me if unsure).
4. If you have access to a French, German, or Spanish speaking
community and you are able to communicate reasonably well in that
language, you may choose topic 2 from the "non-LxC topics" (see
back of this page) and conduct the interviews in your chosen LxC
language. You will need to provide notes or transcripts from the
original interviews and explain the responses in English.
Anthro/Ling 214-WE/WMN 233-WE
Course Project
Papers due: Tuesday, April 20 (Section 1)
Papers should be 14-16 pages in length. Students will have the
option of revising their papers once. The revised papers are due
Thursday, May 6.
* Submit your chosen topic on a piece of paper by March 16. *
Choose one of the following topics:
1. Stereotypes are judgments of other persons on the basis of
their membership in particular social groups. Television plays a
significant role in both reflecting and sustaining American
stereotypes. For you project, select one program from the
following categories:
a) soap operas
b) situation comedies
c) TV dramas
Tape the program and analyze it with regard to male/female
interactions and the language used in them:
a) Record (write down) all instances of the indicators of
"powerless language" (Lakoff's "women's language"). These
indicators include; tag questions, questioning intonation,
hedges, 'empty adjectives', use of 'so' and 'very',
overemphasis ('speaking in italics'), 'polite language',
sex-specific vocabulary, hypercorrect forms.
In your chosen TV program, are these linguistic usages best
described as indicative of gender or of power (or something
entirely different)?
b) Record all instances of interruption, overlap, and
swearing.
c) Use class or other readings where appropriate.
d) Indicate elements of the program that you see as
promoting or countering stereotypes about the ways in which
women and men speak, and explain why you reached your
conclusions.
e) How do these stereotypes (or their absence) relate to
other aspects of social reality (especially with regard to
concepts of gender)?
2. This project involves eliciting responses from 10 adult women
and 10 adult men to two or three images (depending on
complexity). The images should be photographs depicting adult
human beings involved in different activities. The purpose is to
examine whether women and men use different ways of describing
a) people (of either sex, or of indeterminate sex),
b) activities,
c) other relevant aspects of the photographs.
You should pay special attention to the terms used to refer
to men and women and comments involving references to sexuality.
You may also wish to comment on any other indicators of
'feminine' or 'masculine' styles of speech (see discussion by
Coates) that you may detect and examine these with regard to
context, the respondent's life situation (e.g. occupation, social
network, upbringing) or other relevant factors. Use relevant
readings where appropriate.
You should select the photographs on the basis of their
portrayal of gender-typical activities, non-typical activities,
or sexuality. Good sources of photographs are popular periodical
magazines such as National Geographic or Life.
You should tape-record the responses of your participants or
take diligent notes. Append the transcriptions or notes to your
written analysis.
3. Every year, Americans send some 7.3 billion greeting cards, at
a total cost of about $5 billion. According to the chair of
Hallmark Cards, Inc., greeting cards "not only reflect [the
sender] and their personality and their relationships with the
other person, but it has to reflect that other person".
Many greeting cards are addressed to persons of a particular
gender ("For a wonderful father", etc.). Examine the kinds of
messages that are sent about the recipients of such cards on the
basis of their gender. How do these (implicit or explicit)
messages about the roles, activities, or behaviors of men compare
to those of women? Are these gender messages conveyed via some
linguistic means more than via others (e.g. metaphors or
particular words)? Are there any hidden messages?
In your paper, state how you went about gathering your data,
what your sample size was, and how you analyzed your data (append
a listing of all 'gender messages' analyzed). You may do the
data gathering part of the project as a team, but analysis and
write-up must be done individually.
Back to the Language and Gender page.
John Lawler