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Discrimination against women is linked to the tyranny of words |
| By: Vera Vieira (*) |
When we say “The salvation of the planet is in the hands of men”, instead of saying“The salvation of the planet is in the hands of humanity”, it reflects on the position that men have always been occupying, giving strength to his hierarchic position and to the masculine domination in society.
Throughout time, it has been evident the role of sexist language on the growth of masculine domination stereotypes, which contribute to the unbalancing of social relationship between men and women, characterized by domination-subordination behavior. When we are born, our sex is determined by nature. But different behavior has direct influence on the education we receive in the social environment, which has been historically marked by female subordination to men. It is a cultural phenomenon that has been going on for thousands of years and must be changed.
People are educated by schools, families, religions, media and state laws, which are clearly responsible for the definition of the unequal roles played by men and women, with dramatic consequences for society. Only a little bit of information is necessary to prove this: domestic violence suffered by women (with a frightening number of deaths), independent of race, color, ethnic origin, social class or educational level; lower pay average, even if they have a higher educational level; very few cases of women occupying leadership functions and a big incidence of women becoming the head the family.
It’s very important for us to be conscious of the connection between language, knowledge and culture. Only after the person obtains language skills is that he or she gets to the abstract field. A conception thought will not be carried out without speech, because of a complex social-educational process. The human being does not only learn how to speak, but also learns to think. As the starting point of individual thought, language is the mediator between what’s social, given – and, therefore, dictatorial -, and what’s individual, creator, in the minds of each person. Language not only constitute the social starting point and the basis of individual thought, but, also, the influence on the level of abstraction and generalization of this thought. It influences our ways of seeing reality. The individual experience implies on sketches and stereotypes from social origin.
The connection between language and culture is bilateral if considered a relation of causes and consequences. It is the influence of culture on language, and also the influence of language on cultural development.
A word is ,by excellency, an ideological phenomenon.
All the reality of a word is absorbed by it’s function as a sign.
The word is the most pure and sensitive manner of a social relation.
It is the most privileged material of communication in day-to-day life.
It is in this domain that conversation and it’s discursive forms are at.
It’s because of the exceptional role as conscience’s instrument, that the word works as an essential element that follows all ideological creations, whatever it may be. It accompanies and comments all ideological acts, being present in every act of comprehension and interpretation.
Words are woven with a bunch of ideological strings
and they work like a conspiracy for all social relationships,
in every domain. It will always be the indicator of social transformation.
A stereotype comes in the relationship between human
beings and the world. Because it is
an unconscious process, it acts with much more power when it identifies itself
as a whole unit, as a concept inside the human mind. This is the secret of the “tyranny of words”.
Language, as a speech, does not constitute a universe of signs that only works as an instrument of communication or thought support. It is interaction and a mean of social production. It is not neutral nor innocent, while it’s linked to intentions, and it’s not natural. That’s why it’s a privileged place of ideology manifestation.
Let’s end sexist language, searching for a world with equality between men and women! When you stop with sexist language, you break behavior patterns.
(*)
Journalist, specialized in media intervention