It’s Great to be Great, but it’s Greater to be Kate

I really responded to both Kate’s and Lakoff’s writing about The Markedness of the Feminine (And the Female). This is something that’s interested me for a while because of how marked female-gender-specific words are. People wander around being saved by “firemen,” voting for “congressmen,” and shouting at basketball games to “get on your man.” The second we say we were rescued by a “firewoman,” things get complicated. It just doesn’t roll of the tongue. Thanks for that, dead white men.

I know a lot of people roll their eyes at these nit-picky women who complain that language is unfair, sexist, and even damaging. But the truth is, language does reflect a woman’s place in the world. Think about these gender relationships: doctor/nurse, boss/secretary, provider/homemaker. It’s pretty obvious who gets to be the boss.

For this reason, I think masculine unmarked language is definitely normalized in our society. It’s engrained into our psychology; Kate used a great example to demonstrate this—the riddle of the woman doctor. ["A father and son are in a car accident and the father dies. The son goes to the hospital. Upon entering the room, the doctor says, "I can't operate on him, that's my son." Who is the doctor?]

I remember the first time I heard it (I’m embarrassed to admit) I couldn’t figure it out. It was kind of like, “Oh, right…women can be doctors, too.” Something needs to be done, here. I’m not suggesting we re-write “All wo/men are created equal” and “One nation, under God/dess…” but I’m not ruling it out, either. Let’s face it: “gaggle of geese” isn’t exactly the highest of compliments.

EDIT: I like how when I insert a link to Kate's post it doesn't show up.