Language is Power—Sexist Patriarchal Power

“Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the instrument of domination and liberation”- Angela Carter

Language affects every aspect of our life, but we rarely question it; if we examine the words we use and the way we use them, we find a sexist patriarchal myth passed down from the ancient Greeks. Their leaders used the art of language to create a dichotomy between men and women, in order to retain power (Lecture Notes 2 Dec. 2011). For example, the two words we use to describe gender, masculine and feminine, limit us with their strict definitions. Sociologist Allan G. Johnson, in his The Gender Knot, defines

“[masculine as] aggressive, daring, rational, emotionally inexpressive, strong, cool headed, in control of themselves, independent, active, objective, dominant, decisive, self-confident, and unnurturing [and feminine as] unaggressive, shy, intuitive, emotionally expressive, nurturing, weak, hysterical, erratic and lacking self-control, dependent, passive, subjective, submissive, indecisive, and lacking in self-confidence.” (86)

The words that describe masculine, “dominant,” “strong,” “active,” all give us a sense of power and authority, whereas, the feminine adjectives, “submissive,” “weak,” and “passive,” do not. Johnson, by defining the two words used to describe every human being, lets us see how we establish a pecking order between men and women with our words. The way we speak, either actively or passively, gives the connotation of male or female, strong or weak. We see men as naturally masculine and thus, by Johnson’s definition, active; they are always clear subjects taking distinct actions (an active sentence for the active male). Conversely, we see women as feminine, therefore passive; they never...

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