Mahmoud Al Rabaa | Staff Writer
Language is one of those components of our life that we perceive as only a simple means of communication with others. As human beings, we constantly interact with the world around us using language. Be it people, emotions, or even things. We express our thoughts and feelings through language. People psychologically tend to take things that are commonly available for granted.
Before taking the course on “Language and Gender” at the American University of Beirut, I also used to have similar thoughts. But what if I told you that language molds our identities into the very essence of who we perceive ourselves and others to be and how we navigate the complexities of our existence? Already feeling bewildered? Hold your horses because there is more.
Humans tend to categorize things and people based on groups that are similar to each other. With that being said, we can understand how the society across ages classifies people into 2 main genders: males and females.
But these categories aren’t fixed; they depend on how similar someone is to our ideas of what a man or woman should be. So, someone might be seen as “masculine” or “feminine” based on how they act or look. This shows that our ideas about gender aren’t just about biology but also about social and cultural norms.
Language is the means by which we communicate our speech and thoughts with others. If we were to trace the origin of the English language, we can see that it is “man-made”. In fact, grammar is politics by other means and “the English language has been literally man made and . . . is still primarily under male control. . . . This monopoly over language is one of the means by which males have ensured their own primacy,
and consequently, have ensured the invisibility or ‘other’ nature of females, and this primacy is perpetuated while women continue to use, unchanged, the language which we have inherited” (Donna J. Haraway). Language plays a pivotal role in perpetuating discrimination against women, serving as both a tool and a weapon in shaping societal attitudes and behaviors. From the subtle reinforcement of gender stereotypes through everyday expressions to the overt use of derogatory language, linguistic norms often reflect and reinforce those inequalities. Imagine that a baby girl is born. The first thing a family would do is write in pink “it is a girl”. From here on, one can imagine the enormous number of stereotypes enforced by language on that girl. She would slowly start to belong to this special female discourse of irrationality, familial dependence, powerlessness and sexual and physical excess. This discourse is a result of the strict rules enforced by the society on girls. The language a girl uses and the way she speaks should submit to being soft, polite, modest, gentle, friendly (but be careful to the extent of being friendly or else it would be considered flirty). So, the amount of discrimination against women is unimaginable. It is like being free to do what you want yet having to comply and abide by the imaginary chains of stereotypes and strict societal norms!
Another real-life example would be the phenomena of mansplaining, where women are interrupted or talked over. Mansplaining exemplifies language as a tool of discrimination against women, showcasing how men assert dominance by presuming authority over women’s experiences and knowledge, thereby undermining their credibility and reinforcing gender-based power imbalances.
Gender Embodiment Through Body Language and Stances
As human beings, we constantly interact with the world around us using language. Be it people, emotions, or even things, we express our thoughts and feelings through language. But it is worth noting that body language is a pivotal part of understanding who the person is and what he/she is trying to say. For instance, when I meet a, person for the first time, I tend to tell a lot of things about him/her from the way he/she talks, moves, walks, or even sits.
As mentioned previously, language is truly a very powerful tool that helps us form our gender identity before even birth. So, body language is no exception and one should carefully study its field in determining how it also shapes our identity. To put this into context, imagine a person whose face and body are completely covered in such a way that you can’t tell his/her gender identity. In scenario 1, this person proceeds and places one foot over the other as shown in figure (3). One automatically forms an intuitive assumption that this person is a male.
On the contrary in scenario 2, if this person sits with crossed feet as shown in figure (4), the intuitive thought formed would be that this person is a female. I am not saying that those assumptions are true. I personally identify as a man and I still sit in both positions. However, the stigmatized norms and rules formed around certain body languages are a pilar in forming one’s identity.
“Stance is a term that has variously been defined, but I define it as how a speaker is characterizing their immediate relationship in an interaction. Stance is about our local goals of communicating and the way we represent our ideas and our alignments or ‘disalignments’ with the people we’re talking to.” Let us now explore how a stance is formed by body language and without a word spoken through the following Tide advertisement. First of all, the woman in this advertisement is a blond white one with full makeup on. This aims in drawing a clear picture in the minds of the public of how a “pretty” woman worth being shown in an advertisement should always be seen in this ideal image. Moving on to the woman’s stance, she is looking at the Tide bag with utter happiness and pride as though a treasure is in between her hands. What gender stereotype is she portraying? The advertisement reinforces the idea of depicting women as primarily concerned with domestic duties and household chores, suggesting that a woman’s happiness and pride stem from her ability to fulfill traditional roles as a housewife. This portrayal undermines women’s diverse aspirations and reduces their worth to domestic tasks, perpetuating traditional gender norms.
The Difference Approach and The Jocks versus The Burnouts
In this approach, the male speech is seen as completely different than that of females. Scholars like Deborah Tannen (1991) considered that men and women speak different languages, different words because they are raised in different cultures, different worlds, when growing up.
The table above summarizes how girls and boys in their respective communities of practice, which are a group of people who share a certain passion or activity.
The concept of men and women communicating through “different languages” facilitates the establishment and continuation of gender norms by reinforcing the belief in inherent disparities between genders. Children raised in environments that emphasize and reinforce these linguistic distinctions may have their perception of gender roles and expectations influenced. For instance, girls may be taught to adopt a polite or caring language associated with femininity, whereas boys are motivated to nourish assertive or competitive communication styles linked with masculinity.
So, children might perceive themselves as aligning with specific gender roles based on the language and communication styles they have encountered, conforming to societal norms of masculinity or femininity. This could result in feeling a sense of belonging to a specific gender group and forming the instinctive comprehension of their own gender identity. People who deviate from these norms might encounter confusion or feel pressured to conform, affecting their self-perception and the process of shaping their identity.
In conclusion, language acts as a powerful force in constructing gender identities and perpetuating societal norms. In my world of industrial engineering and consulting, understanding how language shapes gender dynamics is crucial for fostering inclusive workplaces and optimizing team collaboration. This allows me to develop strategies that promote diversity and equity, leading to more innovative and effective solutions for clients and industries alike because people without the knowledge of their history, origin, and culture is a like a tree without roots.