Unmarked?

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Unmarked? According to Deborah Tannen, there is no such thing as an unmarked woman. She says that "a man can choose to wear a "marked" style but a woman has no choice". "The term "marked" is a staple of linguistic theory. It refers to the way language alters the meaning of a word by adding a linguistic particle that has no meaning on its own". Is there such a thing as an unmarked person? Or are we all marked in our own way? Everything we wear, or say or do is a marking. For example, wearing a Jewish star around my neck is a marking that I am Jewish. If that is the case then there is no such thing as an unmarked person. Everyone wears something that marks him or her, whether they realize it or not. There is no such thing as an unmarked person. Tannen thinks that there are no unmarked women, but that there can be unmarked men; however, I do not think that is true. I think that unmarked people do not exist. They are figment s of peoples' imagination, like Santa Claus or the tooth fairy. By saying that there are unmarked men, she is saying that there is just one generic type of guy and most guys can fit that stereotype. How can there be one type of person that would fit every single male on this planet? There are so many different people in the world it is absurd to think or even to assume that one gender can be placed in a small category. What exactly would an unmarked person look like? Lets say that the person is blonde; around five foot six inches, is an average weight and female. An all around girl next door, nothing special about her, the type of person that you could see once and not remember any details about. She would still be marked because of the type of clothing she wore, or the way she did her hair. If she h... ... middle of paper ... ...oday, regardless of how much we have advanced. We judge everyone regardless of what someone may say. It happens automatically, we will look at someone and try to place him or her in to a neat box. It may be stereotyping, and wrong, but it still happens. People's marks make it easier to do so. According to Deborah Tannen, there is no such thing as an unmarked woman. She says that "a man can choose to wear a "marked" style but a woman has no choice". Everything we wear, or say or do is a marking. I think that unmarked people do not exist. Even people who consider them selves unmarked are marked by something. Everything in our world is marked. Oscar Wilde once said, " The truth is rarely pure and never simple". I think the same goes for people. We all may have marks that give a clue to who we are, but the only way to be sure is to meet us and really get to know us.

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