Blog 4: Gendered Language

Often when discussing gender and the difference between men and women, many people forget that even language is gendered. It is something that most of us don't think of because it a such a big part of our daily lives that we are barely aware that there is any issue with it. One of the biggest things that I know that I am guilty of is saying "you guys" when talking to a group of people. To me I am just addressing group of people in a casual way, which is what is means in our society today, but the term guys is another word for men, so it is like I'm saying "you men." I often say this to my friends and many of them are female, which to me isn't an issue, but that is because we are so unaware of the implications. If I said "you girls" to a group of people of different genders many men would be insulted, but on the other hand if I say "you guys" no one even questions it. It would be just as easy to say "you all," but almost no one says this, which is a shame. This is just one of many different colloquialisms that are gendered and just accepted. This is an issue because it reinforces gender gaps and although it may seem tiny, because these colloquialisms are so widely accepted they have greater implications.
   Our language is definitely gendered even though so many people are blinded to this. Often it isn't meant to be derisive to a certain gender, but it is just a part of our history and daily lives. Men were always the more "dominant" gender throughout history and many of our historical documents and laws use the term "men" when talking about all people. Today there would be a lot of backlash if someone decided to do this, but still we accept what was in the past. Certain terms are still gendered like freshman and many others. I was actually surprised when I heard someone discuss how "freshmen" is gendered because I don't think of it as "fresh-men," I think of it as people who are in their first year of high school or college. When thinking about it wouldn't it be just as simple to say first-years? It would be a lot better if these words were gender neutral in order to promote gender equality in all areas. There has been improvements like there are firemen and firewomen and the plural of them are usually firefighters to include both genders. There are many words that are gendered and more harmful thann these, but it is important to see that even in seemingly harmless words there are still gender equality issues.