Language and Sexism

by Sara Mills

The issue of sexist language has been hotly debated within feminist circles since the 1960s. Previous books have tended to regard sexism in language as easy to identify and have suggested solutions to overcome and counter sexism. Sara Mills takes a fresh and more critical look at sexism in language, and argues that even in feminist circles it has become a problematic concept. Drawing on conversational and textual data collected over the last ten years, and with reference to recent research carried out in a range of different academic disciplines, Mills suggests that there are two forms of sexism - overt and indirect. Overt sexism is clear and unambiguous, while indirect sexism is based on pragmatics and the meaning and interpretation of utterances. Indirect sexism is extremely common and we therefore need new ways to challenge and analyse its usage in language.

Genres: Feminism, Language, Nonfiction, Linguistics

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Sara Mills is a Research Professor at the School of Cultural Studies, Sheffield Hallam University. She has published on feminist linguistic and literary theory and on feminist post-colonial discourse theory.

Reviews

[Annabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much too unpack here....

[Fjóla Gerður]

Augljós og óbeinn sexismi. Notaði í málvísindalokaverkefnið mitt. (Feminísk stuttmynd)

[Nan Suphaphorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Stereotypes of femininity can be considered to be sexist when they are evaluated negatively"

Hope it can help one who wanted to read it, to be more excited! :-)

[Rowan Wagner]

A book that all men should read, maybe it will help us to become more civilized.