Avoiding Sexist Language: Why and How

See also
  • Stetson University Advice on Sexist Language
  • Purdue University Advice on Sexist Language
  • The following discussion is based on University of Texas at Austin document [pdf file]
  • Undergraduate Writing Center, The University of Texas at Austin; Last revised by Zach Floca, July 2003

    I Didn’t Mean to Say That!: Avoiding Sexist Language

  • Sexist language inadvertently (or purposefully) excludes either men or women, usually the latter. Why avoid sexist language? Writers are obliged to cultivate their readers’ trust by presenting a reliable ethos. Ethos “refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speaker” (Ramage and Bean, p. 81). Not only do writers wish to appear to be good and trustworthy people, writers also want to appear to respect their audiences. There is no faster way to alienate members of your audience than to exclude them from an intellectual conversation. Language that marginalizes or offends your audience, whether it reflects sexist or racist attitudes, will cut off communication with your audience. The reader will stop readind. The end of all argumentation is persuasion, and you cannot persuade an audience that you have offended.

    Strategies to avoid sexist language:

  • 1. Don’t assume that any job or position is filled by a member of only one sex. Not only are many doctors women, many nurses and administrative assistants are men. Use terms that can apply uniformly to both men and women. The U.S. Post Office now officially calls the people who deliver the mail “mail carriers,” rather than “mailmen.” Firefighters; not firemen. Talk about “flight attendants” instead of “stewardesses.” Remember, the military is made up of both male and female soldiers, so a discussion about “the men in today’s army” will exclude many soldiers. "Men at work?" Only men?
  • 2. Avoid gendered pronouns (like he, she, his, her) by making them plural. For example, the sentence “A nurse needs to care about her patients” could be changed to “Nurses need to care about their patients.”
  • 3. Avoid terms like “man” when you intend to include women as well. “Man” (and similar terms like “mankind”) can be confusing as well as inaccurate, since “man” might mean “all people” or just “male people.” Change: “Since the beginning of time, man has worried about death,” to “Since the beginning of time, people have worried about death.”
  • 4. Use common sense. Think about your prose. Don't communicate biases in language that you don't hold in reality. Yes, HOW you say it matters as much as what you say.
  • Based on: Ramage, John D. and John C. Bean. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998.