Sexist Slurs

Sexist language can be described as any language that confers a higher value or greater significance to one type of gender and devalues the other. Sexist language is usually used to stereotype, subordinate or trivialize onesex. More often than not they are mostly used against women or describing women and rarely are they used against men. Hence the rise of feminism to advocate the rights of women. The purpose of this paper is to outline how the use of sexist language such the boys has been used to control how women think and make them want to be associated with the bigger sex “male.”

Sexist slurs are labels that are used to describe women in a pejorative and derogatory manner. Sexist slurs vary on their content as well as their evaluative

We live in a society where the words we use more often reinforce the current realities especially when they are sexist. The author argues that the choice of words we use to address or describe certain situations such a “girl” instead of a “woman” or a “Negros” instead of an “African American” make a difference. In contrast, the author points out that most women prefer to be included in a high-status group. While being labeled “one of the guys” certainly makes some women feel included, it’s only a disguise of the reality at hand. She argues that if women were truly included they should be addressed as women and not disappear into the word “guys.” Kleinman (2002, Pg 300) argues that most women do disappear into male based terms it makes them feel superior hence making it easier for them to be dominated bya male in what she refers as symbolic

She goes ahead and gives examples of some of her students who don’t prefer to be called women but prefer to be called girls. But when it comes to changing names say for “women studies” to “girl’s studies” or “women” center to “girl’s center they find it rather ridiculous and diminishing. She points out to the fact that we live in a society where it is acceptable to call women by the term guys, yet it is absurd to call a man women. According to Kleinman (2002, Pg 302), working against sexist language is the first step to dealing injustices women suffer. She points out that if we are going to work to initiate social change, we should begin by using non-sexist language in our English