We were in a book store’s language section, French, when Wegra noted “French is a gender biased language. Well, most European languages are.”
“Yeah, I agree. Even objects are classified male or female. It makes language learning very complicated!” I said.
“But they are improving English to be less biased. And most Asian languages are the least sexist” she went on.
“Hmm, that’s right! Malay for example, has ‘dia’ or ‘that person’ instead of he or she as a pronoun. But sometimes it is necessary to identify the gender as a more detailed description for a comprehensive and descriptive story” I added.
“Is it really necessary?” she asked.
“I think so. Because in Malay, a story can go on and on using ‘dia’ without a hint of the person being male or female, it creates the need to question ‘is the story referring to a female or a male?” I elaborated.
“Well, that’s the way you look at it” she said, ending the discussion.
Ironically, asking if the person is male or female may be construed as sexist. And you’ll probably get ‘what difference does it make, male or female?’ hurled at you.
The discussion may have stopped there but it kept me thinking. And a few clicks on the net proved how ignorant I was.
How ignorant exactly was I? Google up ‘gender biased language’ and see for your self. Here, let me help; follow this link http://www.google.com.my/search?hl=en&q=gender+biased+language&btnG=Search&meta=
I totally understand now why eliminating gender biasing is necessary. It eliminates discrimination on every level. It’s the first step to creating a fair and civilized society.
Go gender free. Yeah, I can do that.
Even squirrels can go gender free without losing their nuts.
But don’t start calling your mom and dad female and male parent. That’s weird.
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