Hello,

I keep hearing this word, 'silly', in relation to efforts to make
language less sexist (since 2002 when, as a prospective licentiate, I
defended a thesis on gender neutral language and political correctness
in Romania and my (all male) examiners concluded that my motive for
writing such a thesis and engaging with such a topic was "my need to
be like men"!)

Granted, in languages such as German and Romanian that are so heavily
gendered, such efforts feel forced and alien sometimes. Similar to how
I feel when I have to use a 'male' term to describe myself as a
philosopher, my sister as a social worker or my mother as an engineer.

But this is an important topic and I would also be interested to hear
about empirical studies on the subject.

Best,
Paula Popovici

On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 7:36 PM, Sara Protasi <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear members,
>
> I was wondering if you know of any empirical research that proves or
> disproves that gendered language has an impact on implicit or explicit
> discrimination.
>
> I am asking in light of the recent news that the University of Leipzig has
> voted to adopt the feminine version of the word for “professor” as its
> default. This strikes me as interesting, but I am not sure whether it's
> effective or whether it could even be counterproductive (given that lots of
> people I talked to find it silly at best).
>
> Aside from references, I welcome people's thoughts on the matter!
>
> Best,
> Sara
>
>
>
>
> ############################
>
> To unsubscribe from the FEAST-L list: write to:
> mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the following
> link: https://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=FEAST-L&A=1

############################

To unsubscribe from the FEAST-L list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
https://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=FEAST-L&A=1