Kheiron Module 3

We will outline some strategies to avoid exclusionary language at the lexical-semantic level: Alternatives to the use of the generic ‘man’: like the masculine grammatical gender marker, the term man often has the same generic excluding use, in sentences such as ‘the documentary on the origin of man’, ‘this research is a big step for man’, etc. Some alternatives may be: Use of collective or abstract terms Replacing the term ‘man’ with pronouns such as us, our.... Pay attention to the citation of professions, especially when they are exercised by women. Often, even if we are speaking a language without much gender marking, we tend to associate professions with a particular gender. For example, in the ‘draw in scientist’ experiment first conducted in the 1960s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BmPA2eAWCY. Be aware of these biases, identify them, and address them. Alternatives to the use of apparent duals (when a word or expression does not have the same meaning in masculine and feminine), lexical gaps (there is no equivalent feminine word or vice versa) and occupied (terms whose complementary gender has different meanings): Choose another word or term Avoid using terms whose feminine form has a derogatory meaning. Alternatives to avoid semantic leaps (those constructions in which an apparently neutral form is used in a first definition, but is later used with gender-specific attributes. For example: ‘the pupils may go on the excursion accompanied by their girlfriends’ or ‘the nomads moved from one place to another with their belongings, women and children’. Use of collective or abstract nouns Avoid exclusionary and ambiguous elements or terms. Avoid using fixed sexist expressions and formulas: set phrases and sayings. Avoid sentences that reflect clichés or clichés. Women as men's property Women as sexual objects 14