The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

24 Chapter 1

becoming more acceptable and sexist lan-

guage is becoming more maligned? A study

of 18- through 87-year-olds showed that

people are fairly undecided about the is-

sue (Parks & Roberton, 2008). Interestingly,

there were no age differences in views of

nonsexist language, with the exception that

the youngest cohort (ages 18–22) held the

least favorable views. See how language in-

fluences perception at your school with Do

Gender 1.4.

In recent years, the issue has been taken

up by state legislatures because some states,

such as California, Florida, Hawaii, Massa-

chusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Ver-

mont, have passed legislation to change their

state constitutions to use gender-neutral lan-

guage. Other states are considering the issue,

and several states, such as Nebraska, have re-

jected the change (K. Murphy, 2003).

DO GENDER 1.4

Effects of Sexist Language

on Female and Male Images

Ask 10 people to read one of two sen-

tences. The sentences must be identical,

with the exception that one version uses

sexist language (e.g., “A student should

place his homework in a notebook”) and

one version uses gender-neutral lan-

guage (e.g., “Students should place their

homework in a notebook” or “A student

should place his or her homework in a

notebook”). You could also compare these

two gender-neutral conditions. Ask read-

ers to visualize the sentence while read-

ing it. Then ask them to write a paragraph

describing their visual image. Have two

people unrelated to the study read the

paragraphs and record whether the image

was male, female, or unclear.

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ The minimalists believe that men and women are es-

sentially the same, that differences are small, and that

those that do exist are likely to be due to social forces.

■ The maximalists believe that women and men are

fundamentally different in important ways, but that

“different” does not mean that one is better than

the other.

■ Social constructionists argue that science cannot be ap-

plied to the study of gender because gender is not a

static quality of a person but is a product of society. As

the context changes, so does gender.

■ Today’s women’s movements have as their common

thread a concern with improving the position of women

in society and ensuring equal opportunities for women

and men.

■ Today’s men’s movements are varied, some endorsing

feminist positions and others advocating a return to tra-

ditional male and female roles.

■ Research has shown that sexist language, such as the

use of the genericheto imply both women and men,

activates male images and is not perceived as gender

neutral.

How should one avoid sexist language?

The easiest way to get around thehe/sheis-

sueistousethepluralthey.Other tips are

shown in Table 1.3.

This Book’s Approach to the Study of Gender

According to Deaux (1984), there are three

approaches to the study of gender. First,

sex is used as a subject variable. This is the

most traditional approach to research and is

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