Feature article on language used about men and women

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  • Feature article on the language used about men and women
    • Lexical asymmetry
      • Male terms are considered more positive
      • Female terms are considered to be more negative
      • Good example to use: Spinster and Bachelor
        • They mean the same thing but have different connotations
    • Marked forms
      • Terms for females are often marked by the addition of a suffix
        • Suggests that the male equivalent is the norm
      • Examples of a suffix
        • '-ess'
      • Host/Hostess Waiter/ Waitress
      • considered demeaning to women
        • Gender neutral alternatives have been developed as a result
          • Firefighter, Chair, Police Officer, Sales assistant
    • Semantic pejoration
      • When the meaning of a word becomes more negative
      • Tart used to be a term of endearment
        • Comparing them to a sweet pastry or dessert
        • Somebody's sweetheart
      • Untitled
    • Promiscuous and insulting phrases
      • Identified 200 promiscuous phrases for women
      • Identified 20 promiscuous phrases for men
      • Examples for women: ****, ****, Whore, Scank, Bunny boiler,
      • Double standards
        • Women are judged and shamed by society
        • Men are encouraged and praised
      • Examples for men: Manwhore, player, Fuckboy
    • Terms of Address (Titles)
      • Debate
        • Should there be a title for unmarried men
        • Issue of equality
        • Why is there a need to identify whether a women is married or not?
      • Miss (unmarried) Mrs (married) and Ms (Divorced/no preference)
    • Use of pronouns
      • The pronoun 'he' is used generically
        • applying to all members of society
      • Should the pronoun 'they' replace 'he'
        • Prescriptivist attitudes towards this: grammatically incorrect
    • Name after marriage
      • Tradition for a wife to take her husbands name
      • In some cases, men have opted to take their wife's name
      • Down to personal opinion
      • Some women choose not to change their name at all
        • Whilst others opt for a double barrelled surname

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