"This New Species that Seeks a Language: On Sexism in Language and Language Change" by Nancy M. Henley Blog #11

After reading this article, I can honestly say that my mind was changed a little. I used to think that most of the idea that sexism exists in language was just "left-wing" notion. The evidence in this article has convinced me that it does exist in our language, and the bias in language only prolongs the sexism against women in our culture. One of the things that stood out to me was the fact that, while men are usually referred to according to their occupational status, women are reffered to by their relational status. This never really occured to me, even though it's obvious because a woman's "title" shifts between Mrs., Miss, and Ms., while a man is always Mr., despite his marital status. This emphasizes the fact that woman continue to be defined by their relational and marital status. I also found it interesting that "neutral" occupations are still modified with gender, like "lady judge". It shows that our language is truly biased toward men, because occupations without a specific gender attached are immediately registered as male in most people's minds.