Four Dimensions of Criticism Against Gender-Fair Language.
The gender-neutral third-person pronoun singular hen was recently introduced in Swedish as a complement to she (hon) and he (han). The initiative to add hen initially received strong criticism. In the present study, we analyzed 208 arguments from 168 participants with critical attitudes toward hen....
| Published in: | Sex Roles Vol. 83; no. 5/6; pp. 328 - 338 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
Sep2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=144922033&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 144922033 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 03600025 SXR jtl: Sex Roles issn: 03600025 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2020 vid: 83 iid: 5/6 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 144922033 10.1007/s11199-019-01108-x ppf: 328 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 361KB tig: atl: Four Dimensions of Criticism Against Gender-Fair Language. aug: au: Vergoossen, Hellen Petronella Renström, Emma Aurora Lindqvist, Anna Gustafsson Sendén, Marie affil: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Frescati Hagväg 14, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden Department of Social Sciences, Södertörn University, Huddinge, Sweden su: New words Gender identity Sociolinguistics Gender-neutral language Language & languages Gender-neutral pronouns sug: subj: New words Gender identity Sociolinguistics Gender-neutral language Language & languages Gender-neutral pronouns keyword: Gender Gender-fair language Gender-inclusive language Hen Language reforms Pronouns Sexism Gender Gender-fair language Gender-inclusive language Hen Language reforms Pronouns Sexism ab: The gender-neutral third-person pronoun singular hen was recently introduced in Swedish as a complement to she (hon) and he (han). The initiative to add hen initially received strong criticism. In the present study, we analyzed 208 arguments from 168 participants with critical attitudes toward hen. We used Blaubergs' (1980) and Parks and Roberton's (1998) taxonomies of critical arguments against past gender-fair language reforms in English in the 1970s and 1990s as a basis for coding the arguments. A majority of arguments (80.7%) could be coded into existing categories, indicating that criticisms of gender-fair language initiatives are similar across different times and cultural contexts. Two categories of arguments did not fit existing categories (19.3%): gender-neutral pronouns are distracting in communication and gender information is important in communication. Furthermore, we established four overarching dimensions that capture assumptions and beliefs underlying gender-fair language criticism: (a) Defending the Linguistic Status Quo (39.4%), (b) Sexism and Cisgenderism (27.4%), (c) Diminishing the Issue and Its Proponents (26.9%), and (d) Distractor In Communication (6.3%). These dimensions of criticisms should be considered and addressed in different ways when implementing gender-fair language. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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