Feminist Linguistic Research on the Question of Male/Female Deference in their Linguistic Behaviour (Review of the Book Edited by Mary Eagleton: A Concise Companion to Feminist Theory)

Authors

  • Senka Ena Majetic

Keywords:

gender, language, femininity, stereotypes

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the complex relationship between gender and language, so that the common-sense nature of each of the terms and their relation to each other are troubled. I also analyse the way in which stereotypes of femininity play a major role in informing our beliefs about women, men and language and I suggest how we can consider the relationship between language, gender and other variables more productively. My first task, though, is to provide some detail about what this is taken to entail. There are, of course, important differences among feminists who have written on this topic, and in the course of the discussion I will highlight some of these. I certainly do not want to suggest that what I am assessing is a single position, nor am I claiming to represent the basis on which most feminists actually do research. My main concern here is solely with feminist writing about the question of male dominance and female reference in conversation.

 

References

Ahmed, S., Kilby, J., Lury, C., McNeil, M. and Skeggs, B. (eds) (2000) Transformations: Thinking Through Feminism. London: Routledge.

Beauvoir, S. de (1953) The Second Sex. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Bergvall, V., Bing, J. and Freed, A. (eds) (1996) Rethinking Language and Gender Research: Theory and Practice. London: Longman.

Butler, J. (1993) Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’. New York: Routledge.

Carson, F. and Pajaczkowska, C. (2001) Feminist Visual Culture. London: Routledge.

Collins, P. Hill (1990) Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston, MA: Unwin and Hyman.

Foucault, M. (1978) The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction, trans. R. Hurley. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Freud, S. (1975) Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, trans. J. Strachey (intro by S. Marcus). New York: Basic Books.

Haraway, D. (1991) Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. London: Free Association Press.

Hooks, B. (1991) Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. London: Turnaround Press.

Jagger, A. and Young, I. M. (eds) (1998) A Companion to Feminist Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell.

Kirkup, G. et al. (eds) (2000) The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader. London: Routledge.

de Lauretis, T. (1987) Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

McDowell, L. (1999) Gender, Identity and Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Marx, K. (1959) Capital, Vol. 1. Moscow: Progress.

Mulvey, L. (1989) Visual and Other Pleasures. London: Macmillan.

Nicholson, L. (ed.) (1997) The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory. London: Routledge.

Scott, J. W. (1988) Gender and the Politics of History. New York: Columbia University Press.

Spivak, G. Chakravorty (1987) In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics. London: Methuen.

Tong, R. (1998) Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Woolf, V. (1993) A Room of One’s Own (1929). In M. Barrett (ed.), A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Roseneil, S. (1995) Disarming Patriarchy: Feminism and Political Action at Greenham. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Scarry, E. (1985) The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tauris, Carol (1982) Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion. New York: Touchstone Books.

West, T. C. (1999) Wounds of the Spirit: Black Women, Violence and Resistance Ethics. New York: State University of New York Press.

Downloads

Published

2014-06-15

How to Cite

Majetic, S. E. (2014). Feminist Linguistic Research on the Question of Male/Female Deference in their Linguistic Behaviour (Review of the Book Edited by Mary Eagleton: A Concise Companion to Feminist Theory). Asian Journal of Education and E-Learning, 2(3). Retrieved from https://ajouronline.com/index.php/AJEEL/article/view/1273

Issue

Section

Articles