Gendered Language: What Is It & How Does It Affect Our Mental Health?

“By claiming that our words are too hard to understand, the media perpetuates the idea that WE are too hard to understand, and suggests that there’s no point in trying.” – C. N. Lester

As a society we have evolved to a climate where discrimination is not acceptable anymore, no matter if it’s age, race, gender, sexuality or religion, we continue to strive to erase discrimination from our culture. Even through all this change and acceptance we still struggle to welcome the idea that “Gender” is more than just male and female, and is actually a spectrum of identities that vary from person to person. We continue to unintentionally fuel discrimination against those who don’t feel like their identity can be expressed with a binary system. “How do we promote this discrimination?” you may ask. “What are we doing as a society that needs to change?” The answer is gendered language.

What is Gendered Language.

Gendered language is described by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as expressions or words “reflecting or involving gender differences or stereotypical gender roles.” This involves a vast variety of terms frequently used in our daily lives. Specifically focusing on the English language, some of these terms may include gendered-pronouns such as, he, and him, or she, and her. It may also include gender-biased job titles like “policeman” or “waitress” titles that specifically refer to a man or a woman. This form of language surrounds us even though we frequently don’t notice it, promoting and spreading gender stereotypes and discrimination, affecting our society and our mental health. An example of this may be “A nurse is trained to understand her patients’ emotions as well as physical symptoms.” (academics.smcvt.edu) The person who said this is assuming the gender of a nurse is female, promoting the stereotype that the nursing profession is for women and is not appropriate for men.

How Gendered Language Affects Mental Health.

Gendered language affects a variety of communities and populations, it affects different people in different ways. One way in which it is harmful to our mental health is the promotion of gender stereotypes, these stereotypes, similar to the one mention above (nursing is for women not men) has severe effects, they leave individuals questioning their identity based on stereotypical gender norms and feeling like a lesser woman or man because they don’t conform to societies current norms. Gender language also denies individuals of their own gender identity and can leave people, especially in the LGBTQ+ community with a poor self-concept and self-worth, feeling as their identity and themselves are wrong for not fitting into our binary system. Both of these aspects (stereotypes and denying someones gender identity) have proven to lead to higher rates of stress, substance abuse, chronic illness depression and suicide.

How To Make A Change.

So now that you are more educated on gendered language and its effects, you may be asking “how can we make a change?” There are two simple things that you can do to be more respectful of others and avoid gendered language. Doing your part for the more accepting and discrimination free society of tomorrow.

1. Neutralization: This involves replacing gendered language with gender-neutral terms. An example of this would be replacing the word “policeman” with “police officer”. Or in a case where you don’t know the persons gender identity, avoid making an assumption based on your own biases and use a gender-neutral pronoun instead, like “they” or “ze” a new pronoun that is not has not been widely adopted but is more respectful to individuals in the LGBTQ+ community such as transgender, non-binary or non-gender conforming individuals.

2. Self-Awareness & Respect: The most important and simplest thing you could do is to be self-aware of your own biases and use of gendered language. When writing for the public or even talking to an individual face-to-face always be cautious on the language you use, because it does have an affect. Don’t assume an individual’s gender-identity based on your biases and your perception of gender. Always be respectful and accepting and ask them what their gender-identity may be and what pronouns they prefer.

In closing this post I leave you all with a couple of questions, feel free to share your opinions on the post as well as your answers in the comment section. Thank you for your interest in this post, see you next week.

Questions: What are your thoughts on gendered language, is it a necessary part of society? Have you or someone you know been affected by gendered language?

Sources

• Baroque, academics.smcvt.edu/writingctr/gender bias.htm.
• Harris, Chelsea A., et al. “What Is in a Pronoun?” Annals of Surgery, vol. 266, no. 6, 2017, pp. 932–933., doi:10.1097/sla.0000000000002505.
• McLemore, K. A. (2018). A minority stress perspective on transgender individuals’ experiences with misgendering. Stigma and Health, 3(1), 53-64.
• “What Happens When Trans People’s Identities Are Denied?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, http://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/masculin-f-minin/201810/what-happens-when-trans-peoples-identities-are-denied.
• Sánchez-López, P, et al. “The Impact of Gender Roles on Health.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22458293.