Writing about Language and Culture (Short Essay)
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Read a charming essay on language in the Globe and Mail.
Friday, November 16, 2007
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Sexism in China
In China, women have equal rights with men in nowadays; many of them even have better education, more power, and higher position than men in their families and places of work. Although no one dares showing discrimination against women in the public, sexism is deeply rooted in many people’s mind.
Many often-used words and phrases in our language cry down women. “Long hair than wit” is just an example that means women’s wit is less than men’s. Even our great thinker, Confucius, warns that people should be careful with “a contemptible person” and “a woman” because both of them are very hard to handle. Even though we women are not perfect, most of us are not “contemptible” at all. Those popular sayings clearly reveal sexism in our culture
Women are constantly regarded as a “trouble” in places of work because they have the responsibility to give birth to a baby. During the time of pregnancy and lactation, they have right to take a break. Some supervisors feel that it is inconvenient for their working arrangements, so some of them indicate that they prefer one man than ten women. It is unfair that while women have to work to support their families, they also have to deal with too much pressure and discrimination.
Many people still dream of having a son. When my friend was giving birth to her only daughter in the delivery room, her parents-in-law were anxiously waiting outside. They couldn’t help crying later when they knew that the baby was a girl. In my hometown, a joke of “You have a father-in-law face” may enrage a young man because in Chinese that means he will get a daughter in the future. One-child-policy may break some people’s dream and make them crazy.
We can not eliminate sexism in one day because it has existed in our mind and our culture for a long time. It comes from the backward economy, culture and social development and will be dead in the near future. Girls are getting more and more valuable in China is a very good sign.
First draft; 347 words.
Thanks Natalia and Catherine for providing good models that other students may follow! A note to Catherine: your middle body paragraph strays from the topic I think as it doesn't directly address language. Are there some sayings etc. you might give as examples for this paragraph. Natalia, I wonder if the "rudest cursing" examples are too bad to share? Now you have me intrigued!
Valentina,
Your essay, while interesting, does not touch on the language used that communicates this sexism to us. Check Catherine and Natalia's essays for ideas.
Sexism in Chinese
In “Sex in English,” Alleen Pace Nilsen states: “sexism is not something existing independently in American English,” and “it exists in people’s minds.” We could find this fact in Mandarin, which is reflected by Chinese sayings, words, and idioms.
In Chinese sayings, we can see sexist attitudes that our ancestor held. Confucius, the greatest thinker of Confucianism, has a famous saying in his “The Analects,” which says: “women and vile persons are hard to deal with. They would be unbridled in intimacy and grumbling in estrangement.” This opinion has permeated in Chinese culture, and we can find it out in other two popular sayings: “the most poisonous thing is no more than a woman’s heart,” and “beautiful women are the water of misfortune.” Today, we are still influenced by these sayings imperceptibly.
Also, sexism could also be shown in Chinese words. Some words tell women’s low social status. For example, Chinese word “slave” is made up of “female” and “again.” Some words contain negative connotations about women. For instance, Chinese word “jealousy” is formed by “female” and “disease,” which imply that jealousy is a feminine trait. Some words have strong sexual discrimination such as Chinese word “adultery,” which is constituted by three “females!” This word also has other negative meanings: a traitor or an evil plot.
In addition, Chinese idioms also expose sexism in the language. In men’s conversations, the idiom “a woman’s opinion” means that an idea is not a sagacious one. Another idiom “grandma and mom” means someone is too meticulous. Moreover, “being easily changed like water and flowers” is the idiom which has strong negative connotation to describe women’s “unfaithfulness.” It seems that Chinese and Greeks has same conclusion about women: they are “the only ones who experienced uncontrolled emotional outbursts.” (Extracted from Nilsen’s “Sexism in English”)
Although I’m uncomfortable to mention sexism in my language, sexism existing in Chinese is an undeniable fact. All of those Chinese sayings, words, and idioms have verified the reliability of Nilsen’s claim: “the language that a culture uses is telltale evidence of the values and beliefs of that culture.”
-349 words
Ruth,
I'm grateful for your overcoming some discomfort. When I look back at some old journals I wrote in my 20s I was pretty sexist myself. The first step is recognition of the facts (as it was for Nilsen) and then working towards true equality.
Hi,Brad:
Thank you for your encouragement.
Sexism exists after matriarchal society around the world; China is not an exception. Especially in ancient China, women’s social status is very low. According to Three Cardinal Guides, which was ethic in more than one thousand years- “Husband Guides wife,” women are only like property of men. This social value must reflect in language; and the insulting appellation is the focus of sexism. We can find such kind of phenomena form the calling to wife, the women disobeyed the proper rules of women behavior, and the women to be thought as unlucky person.
There are over hundred names to wife, and most of them are with sexism. Some are from the scope of wife’s activities, so they are called “broom holder”, “the thing in the room”, and even “close to body” or “lying in the bed”, which hints women are just sexual tools. When a man talks about his wife to others, he uses “jian”(cheap, low), “bi”(raggedness), and “hun” (silliness) to call his wife. A few time wife is called as a living thing; she is only “huo”(goods). If an animal is a metaphor of a wife, it must be a bad sign, such as “female tiger”, “female lion”, “fox”, and “snake”.
Jealousness is vicious for woman. It certainly is disobeying the proper rules of women behavior. Wife should agree her husband to have concubines, otherwise, she is jealous. In Tang dynasty, if a wife is jealous, the husband can cease the marriage: this is stipulated in the law. Jealous women are called “vinegar jar”. If a woman dares to fight against her husband, she’ll be called “han fu” (Xanthippe) or “po fu”(shrew).
Widows are looked as unlucky women. The main stream thinks that they make their husband die. So they are called “white tiger star” and “comet”; both of them are the sign of hoodoo.
Sexism is phenomena of history and culture; it becomes less and less with the end of feudalization. The above mentioned language almost disappeared form modern society. But the sexism still exists in current language indubitably, and even some new words are created.
-348 words
Changing Perspectives
In the past, men have been recognized, admired and been given positive attributes, whereas women have been demeaned, less appreciated, and have been given negative attributes. In society today, these perspectives have been happening less, although they are still prevalent. Many terms used by people are condescending to women. Although these things are happening in plain view they are more often than not overlooked.
In past years men have been recognized for their accomplishments and woman more for their appearance. An example of men being recognized above women is; woman taking the man’s name through marriage or things being commonly named after famous men, such as the “Bartlett pear, Diesel engine, and Sideburns.” Few things are named after women, when they are; it is often in a materialistic manner. It is very common even today men have more things named after them than women and that is possibly due to them being given more predominant roles than women
Before woman played roles in society where they have been less noticed, and men have been taking on roles that they were admired for. In the past, when the father would give his daughter in her wedding he would say “I do,” more commonly today he would say “Her mother and I do.” It’s up to women to be heard, and to demand to be recognized for taking on strong roles.
Often what we consider positive attributes for men, we consider negative for women. There are many words that are used in a negative way, when speaking about women, for example “a shrew.” The same word could be used in a positive way for a man, for example “a shrewd businessman.” This use of language is offensive to women.
Over the years women have become recognized as important, and have been acknowledged for their contributions to society. Women have made these changes happen, however we still have a long way to go.
First draft: word count 320
A comment from Tina:
I agree with Nilsen’s claims that “The language that a culture uses is telltale evidence of the values and beliefs of that culture.”
China has been a feudal society over two thousand years. The Chinese culture is rooted on the feudalism and impacted by the feudal thoughts and values. There is a feudal old saying:"No woman is the only virtue." It is not just feudal society's discrimination against women, also includes the men and women patriarchal culture on the dual values and double moral standards, to have even more, this is a kind of feudal rule means to deprive women’s right to education, they will be placed presumptuous position, leading to thousands of Chinese women. It reflects that the male dominance of the feudal society.
In the past, more women are unable to do farm work, they cook at home and can not make money. People always call a girl or a daughter "losing money goods." Even today, when a baby girl is born, she is considered a burden of her family and still named with it.
Today the Communist government is trying to promote feminist movement, but you still can sense the sexism somewhere. Because of the “Family Planning” policy, which means one family is only allowed to have one child, it does not improve people’s thought of "Son preference". Reasonably, boys are always desired by his family and valued by the entire society.
Lydia's Essay:
I agree with Nilsen that “the language that a culture uses is telltale evidence of values and beliefs of the culture.” Especially in Chinese language, many Chinese words and sayings imply the Chinese values and beliefs about gender.
Many Chinese words indicate that existence of sexism in the culture. For example, the two Chinese words “男” and “婦” exactly indicate the role of gender in Chinese society. The word “男”, which means man, is composed by two parts –“田” and “力”. “田” means a farm field, and “力” means a labour. So the whole word means a labour in a farm field. It shows us the role of man in Chinese society is the bread maker for his family. On the other hand, “婦”, which means woman, is also composed by two parts-“女” and “帚”. “女” means a female, and “帚”means a broom. So the whole words “婦”shows us the role of a woman is to do housework at home. The two Chinese words exactly indicate the Chinese culture about the role of gender. It means that a man is more important and powerful than a woman in a family.
Some Chinese mottos can also show us that a man is much more respectable than a woman. A famous Chinese motto, which is used to remind a man to take precautions against a woman, says, “A woman is the origin of a man’s disaster.” In other words, if a man killed somebody in order to get in love with a woman, the woman rather than the man is usually blamed even though she is innocent. From the motto, we know that a woman is always considered as a despicable person, but the man is always considered as a “good” person.
The sexism in Chinese society is based on ancient Confucianism. The great philosopher thought that a man is the lord of a woman. Although 2500 years has passed since the creation of the thoughts, it still remains in contemporary Chinese society, and that a woman is equal to a man is just in the law, not in the real life.
November 19, 2007 9:26 PM
Sexism in Vietnam
I agree with Nilsen claims that “The language that a culture uses is telltale evidence of the values and beliefs of that culture.” There are some examples that express and show how the language, Vietnamese’s culture uses.
People usually say that a man can have five wives or seven wives, but a woman has only one husband.” When a man cheats on his wife, he isn’t really being insulted or complained. People think it isn’t really a tremendous issue, and just mention for a moment and forget. However, if a woman cheats on her husband, not only a husband’s family uses bad words for her, but also society gossips and looks at her in different ways. Even though a wife cheats on her husband for some reasons that he is an abusive or a drug addict, she still isn’t respected.
People also say that sons are our children, and daughters are someone’s children. Parents believe that sons stay to inherit property and look after them when they are old or sick. Daughter follows her husband after marriage. Boys are very important to a couple who don’t have. In a birth certificate, children have been received father’s family name, not mother’s. If they have boys, they can maintain father’s last name-father’s origin from one generation to another generation; otherwise, father’s origin doesn’t exist.
Men say women are only housewives. If women have educations, after getting married, most husbands still expect them to stay home doing chores and watching the kids. People think husbands will take care. They think men are only protectors of the society and the families, so there are a few women have high positions in the society. Sometimes, if people see a policewoman or a chairwoman, they are surprised with wide-opened eyes and mouths on their faces.
Although, now, in Vietnam, law says men and women are equal, I see that people still believe and behave, and respect their values and culture which are right for them. They are assimilated the way of using the language.
338 words.
Feminism and Language
Language is one of the most important tools in our society. The words symbolize where we came from and where we go to. Language can use our unconscious thinking and manipulate our mind, this connects not only our past or our present, but most important our future.
In my country, in old times, the women used to stay at home, take care of children and prepare the food. The duties were very well determinate. The good wife was a hardworking person that kept her mouth shut, and was obedient to her husband. The idiom “the woman’s place is in the kitchen” rang like a bell for many years in Rumanian’s woman’s mind. Due to this mentality woman had problems in achieving their goals.
She was loved like a mother, a wife or daughter; however she felt guilty and selfish if she wanted her own fulfillment. According to the circumstances, in time, the Rumanian women were burden not only with the family’s difficult and obscure work, but also with a hard, unsatisfactory job. Society still thought that “the cock is the singer in the house” and “the women is a pretty nobody”. The community was strong in its beliefs that the man was the boss and the women were there just to support her family.
In these days Rumanian women tray to find their own route without losing their feminism. Men accept women’s influence. Today most men have open minds. They recognize the partner’s value and treat them as equal. In a modern society “the man is the head and the woman is the heart” of the family. This expression shows that the man uses his reason and the woman uses her intuition. These days woman has a friend that knows how to be proud of his wife’s accomplishments.
Language mirrors the mentality of a society during the past years. The words are powerful when they shows the truth but more powerful when they unlock people’s mind.
I agree with Nilson’s claims that “The language that culture uses is telltale evidence of the values and beliefs of the culture.” The Korean language has similarities to Nilson’s opinions but some cases are a bit different.
In English, many feminine words are based on masculine words like “steward-stewardess”. In the Korean language, I can not find the similar examples. In the Korean language, the word “steward” has a neutral gender. It is not a man; it is just kind of occupation. If we want to differentiate between a man and woman, we use a particle gender for man and woman in front of the neutral gendered word. For example, 여자(woman) steward and 남자(man) steward or 여자(woman) doctor and 남자(man)doctor.
As we can see from the above examples, we can not find any sexism in each word. They have their own gender. They are not from masculine words. However, even though each word has its own gender independently, sexism still exists in the Korean language. When we speak about a doctor or lawyer, first we think automatically that is a man even the teller does not mention that the person is a man or a woman. In the listener’s mind, a doctor or lawyer is probably a man. Conversely, when we speak about steward(neutral meaning), most people think that she is a woman, because most of the stewards are women in Korea. This unconscious judgment is powerful; the thought that high status jobs are men’s is an example of sexual discrimination in our culture.
Another interesting example of sexual discrimination is the word “wife” in English. In Korea, married men are called Nampyon(husband), and married women are called Buin(wife). Nampyon and Buin are respectable titles for married people. However, rarely does a husband ever call his wife Buin in front other people, because if a man uses Buin in reference to his wife, other people think he is overly formal or respectable to his wife. Instead of Buin, many husbands call his Buin “wife” in English even it is not Korean language. To avoid respectable word, they use English, because “wife” is not feel very formal.
Language is the barometer of the society and culture. Many rules that have sexual discrimination have changed and have been changing. However, it is difficult to change the sexual discrimination in people’s mind and unconsciousness.
Commenting on Sexism
Our minds are more sensitive and receptive after reading Alleen Nilsen's "Sexism in English", and I agree with her claims regarding "The language that a culture uses is telltale evidence of the values and beliefs of that culture." In fact, sexism also appear
in Asian language.
"Women are Connected with Negative Connotations, Men with Positive Connotations," Nilsens says. Sexism also happens in Indonesia. For example, 'Gunung Arjuna',the mountain in Java Island which is named after male hero who was famous in legend; 'Gunung Merapi' means red fire mountain which is assocaited with the power of masculinity. While 'kupu-kupu malam' means 'night butterflies' that are reflected upon women who practising prostitution; butterfly is also a figurative expression of idle person, especially, women who are not serious, wild, and beautiful. However, there are many more examples "from the animal metaphors" which make "a good illustration."
The use of the animal metaphors appears also in Chinese culture, for example, on its calendar systems, the twelve animals are symbolized the years of one's birth. I once asked the daughter of my close friend while we were dining together about which animal did she belong to; surprisingly, her cheeks immediately became rosy.I didn't mean to embarrass her. Finally, her mum broke the silence: she belonged to rooster. As a matter of fact, in China, Hongkong, and Vietnam, chicken is reflected upon a prostitute, and it also implicates the fearfulness and vulnerability of the femininity.
The born of baby girls are continuously not welcome in some Chinese society, especially, in the rural areas. Thousands of female fetus have been destroyed. In the old days, Cantonese called the girl 'sip pun for' which means a 'born loser'. Since they became someone's wives, returning home was not allowed, or permissions were hard to get; therefore, how could they care for their parents. Furthermore, the wives had no place to complain about despite being severely abused. In contrast, sons could bring home money and take care of their parents till the end, so the parents felt that raising a daughter was worthless. It is another example of sexism.
Sexism is not only in every place but also in "people's minds". According to Nilsen, "The language is like an x-ray in providing visible evidence of invisible thought." However, the disrespectful remarks about female will not disappear easily; thus, women who are humiliated because of their gender should bravely laugh off their embarrassing situation.
Tien's essay above!
Language of Culture
I do not think the language of culture has anything to do with our beliefs or values. I think we are influenced to a degree but overall we make our own choice in what we do and say.
Not one culture has perfect people in it. We all have flaws. In some people it is the way they speak “The marine corps build men” woman can be a marine. In others it is they way they act telling sexist jokes like “If you see an old man sit down and take a lesson, if you see an old woman throw a stone.”
Just because someone from a certain culture some people think of them as a stereotypes. How some people say the Asian culture can not drive I know tons of Asians that can drive very well better then me in fact. Certain people call me a “frog” because I am French. I bet people thought the Amazons were crazy for cutting off a breast. We all value different things, we can’t judge a book by its cover.
Everyone is accountable for there own beliefs and actions. We can’t blame a whole city for one citizen’s actions
Sexism in Russian Language
As it is generally known, the Socialist Revolution in Russia declared equal rights for everybody including women. Democratic and liberal periods in the Russian history prove the politicians’ efforts to make this statement a reality. But we can not state that equality of the genders has been realized. More often than not, the statute of equal rights exists only in theory, both in workplace and at home.
There are a lot of proverbs, expressions and statements in Russian language regarding a woman’s appearance, character, intelligence and conduct that discriminate her against a man. For example, while women feel they must be good –looking – a fact that has become especially noticeable with availability of the data showing the increasing use of cosmetics – man are not expected to make themselves attractive. If a woman does not take care of her own appearance, and she is not well-groomed, they say, “She looks like a scarecrow in a vegetable garden.”
In Russia men still talk about women in indecent way that insults their self-respect. Such an expression as: “A woman’s tongue sweeps like an electric broom,” says about women being too talkative and not able to keep a secret. Other two expressions:” A woman behind the steering wheel is a monkey with a hand-grenade,” and “Three pedals: clutch, brake, and accelerator in a vehicle with a standard transmission are too many for two female pretty legs” make doubt women’s driving abilities.
I would like to describe an incident, which occurred to me personally several years ago, that is directly related to sexism in language. My husband was a pilot in my home country, and he had been signed with his air-crew for a job in Singapore for 10 months. The charter flight was going to take three days. I went with my husband to the runway to say goodbye. When his official authority saw me on the runway, he was shocked. It turned out, there is a superstition in aviation: “A woman on a runway is a curse.” The flight was cancelled, and the plane flew out the next day.
Sexism in Russian language seems to be not eradicated, for, as years go by, sexist expressions, associated with women, extend widely and flourish in the Russian culture. However, every woman is well aware of what she is worth and pays no attention to men’s tales. Yet, the problem of equality leaves much to be desired despite that the country considers that the participation of women in work place mandatory, and her role in production is active and essential.
423 words
Language as a Mirror of a Culture
Nilsen is perfectly right in her statement, “The language that a culture uses is telltale evidence of the values and beliefs of that culture.” Proving this statement, the Russian language, like a mirror, reflects the historical inequality between men and women in the family, at work place, and in the society.
By analyzing people’s names, the superiority of men’s role in the family can be proved easily. Middle names for both men and women are obtained from their father’s first name, which emphasizes men’s responsibility for the children’s future. Married women usually carry their husband’s last name in the possessive form (for example, women’s last name Pavlova means Pavlov’s wife) which reminds us that, historically, wives were considered their husband’s property.
Russian language also reveals the fact that men are still considered more valuable than women in a work environment, in spite of equal rights according to law. For instance, many of female professions’ names were obtained by adding suffixes to the name of corresponding male’s professions. Additionally, many professions of high hierology have their names borrowed from a foreign language (such as congressman, director, or conductor) and exist only as masculine words. In Soviet Union era, the common way of addressing people of both genders was a masculine word “tovarisch” (comrade).
Even though in social life, women have excellent multitask skills, they are considered less clever and receive less respect from the society in language. There are quite a few feminine words in Russian which carry a very negative connotation, and the very rudest curse words people use are different equivalents of female identification, even the mother’s name. Some of the Russian proverbs show disrespect towards women, such as:”Listen to the woman advice and do the opposite.”
After analyzing these examples, I agree with Nilsen’s opinion that the sexist stereotypes in language coexist with the sexist stereotypes in people’s mind. Hard and consistent work of progressive people towards elimination of sexism in language will help to decrease prejudice and inequality in the society.
343words, second draft
Usually a language shows a culture, and it also shows what a culture’s viewpoint to sexism. We can analyze almost every language knowing most of cultures follow men’s thinking. Chinese can be an example to be analyzed. Chinese culture has been passing down for 5000 years, and from the language we know what a high ethic which prior women should follow. Although modern women right issues change people’s perspectives to women, sexism thinking is still carried with Chinese characters.
In the past, many phrases pulled women’s social positions down. A famous philosopher said, “If you listen to your wife to raise your children, you are not a man.” It declared to every man that you were the one to command your wife, and it was embarrassing to nourish kids by men. Men also didn’t like women to deal with important issues; women’s opinions were always considered “the thinking of women.” Nowadays, we know more about women right, and try to equal the positions of men and women; however, we still crate many disrespectful phrases comparing a woman with something. For example, people describe a woman who doesn’t have a big breast in “airport,” because which has nothing except a field of flat runway. Some stubborn old men think women are vases, because vases are beautiful but easy to break, and we just can look at it.
Many examples in Chinese phrases pull down women’s abilities and their cleverness. Maybe former men just didn’t want to confess that women had incredible minds. When the sexism becomes part of a language, it reminds women all the time that they have a lower position. This is culture, combines with many thinking from hundreds of generations. Now we don’t think about sexism in old way any more, but we still saying something sexism unconsciously. Because it is part of our culture, and it takes time to change a group’s people’s minds.
- 317 words
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