Blog #16-Gender Issues in Advertising Language

While reading through the article I am constantly thinking about what type of commericals I see when watching T.V. I found this part of the article interesting, I guess because I usually don't think twice about what the commerical is talking about or trying to sell... "one interpretation is since day-time television audiences are predominatley female, advertisers are more careful with their language than in the evening when audiences are mixed." --This is soo true, you see most soap opera commericals during the day only versus the night, you see more women talk show hosts commericals and actual shows during the day...

Another part that the article talks about is "both gender-specific language and gender biased language were more prevalent in ads for household cleaning products..." This makes me think about commericals for Windex.. The one that seems to pop up in my head is when the wife asks her husband to clean the windows and she will clean the pool and the husbands doesn't go for it because he thinks that the pool will not take as long; so she go aheads and cleans the windows and she finishes before he is done with the pool. I feel as though this is completely gender-specific because women are known for cleaning the inside of the house and the man is known for cleaning the outside.

Blog #15-Gendered Voices in Children's Ads

"First, ads for kids serve as training for consumer culture.....through ads, kids learn that products for sale offer life style enchancements, fun, peer group status, and up-to-date coolness..." This quote taken from the article is so right on...My little cousin for example thinks that he has to have every new toy that comes out and he sees this from the commericals that are aimed at training to want new and bigger and better things....I feel as though it is shameful to even think that we need to have "toys or fill in the blank" just to fit into a group. Our peer status shouldn't have to revolve around what "new" thing that we got at the store, but we are suckers for spending our money and buying things that we do not need.

Blog #14-Beyond the "He/Man" Approach: The case for nonsexist language

To change the way we use language seems like it can be an easy thing to do, but for so many people is not or they chose to not change their sexist language. I feel as though we are approaching 2010 and times do change along with language. People seem to be so afraid of change and oppose anything that goes along with it. I found a part of the article that stated, "..when the female pronoun has been used to refer to both sexes, as in the teaching profession, males have lobbied for use of the male pronoun. They argue that use of "she" is responsible, in part, for their poor public image and low salaries."

After reading this passage I totally feel soo frustrated with this statement. Women should not have to be known for poor public images and low salaries. (Granted this was written a while ago, but common on people!) We still do have to deal with types of sexist bias. Are salaries are still lower than males and we are in a completely different era..

Blog #13- Henley-Molehill or Mountain?

Some of the things that I found interesting are...

"boys and men may not understand the generic meaning of the masculine generic because they have never formally had to learn to understand.....Girls and women, on the other hand, have to learn formally to use the masculine generic. Barred from continuing to refer to "any person" with their own pronoun, they must believe in its inclusiveness, if they are to think of themselves and their sex as existing."

I really never gave this much thought. I guess we do learn at such a young age what is the appropriate pronoun to use when talking or describing a generic masculine. This is our norm though, this is the difference of language. Since we do live in this "man-orientated" world we (girls/women) know that we are the "outsiders" so to speak. I don't necessarily think that this is a good thing but it is "normal" in my world.

Blog #11- This New Species that seeks a New Language-Henley

The section that talked about "deprecating" was very interesting to me. To read that "sexual insult is overwhelmingly applied to women, in researching terms for sexual promiscuity, found 220 terms for a sexually promiscuous women but only 22 terms for a sexually promiscuous man." This made me think back to one of our first discussion boards, when we listed names for men and women.

WOW!!! to read that their 220 different words that are spoken about women is disgusting but so true. It made me start to think ab0ut the different words that I hear from different people on a daily basis.

Another interesting section was the "defining" section. I always hear a women being defined by what she does or who she is. Especially if they are mothers. Most mothers that I know will be the first person to say something like " I am a mother, and then I am a ......(fill in the blank)." Being a mother is usually the first thing that they mention when talking about themselves and who they are.