Generics Problem and Social Media: The Use of Personal Pronouns in Facebook Apps
Generics Problem and Social Media: The Use of Personal Pronouns in Facebook Apps
Author(s): Konrad MAGDZIARZSubject(s): Social Sciences, Media studies, Communication studies, Studies in violence and power
Published by: UNIVERSITATEA »ȘTEFAN CEL MARE« SUCEAVA
Keywords: non-sexist language; gender; singular they; generics; Facebook;
Summary/Abstract: Sexist language is a language that represents women or/and mendifferently and/or unequally. One such representation is visible in the usage ofpronouns. Referring to a person of unspecified sex/gender by masculine forms(which, conventionally and grammatically is advised) leads to asymmetry, i.e.masculine is a norm and feminine is invisible. Because of that, gender-neutralpronouns have been introduced to the language. However, none of these hasbecome popular enough to start to be used by an ordinary English user. Andthus, a problem appears. If one wishes to avoid sexist language, what should(he/she/s/he/they/ze/one/...) do? This article intends to examine, basing onFacebook, how social media deal with this problem of generics.
- Issue Year: 2013
- Issue No: 5
- Page Range: 85-99
- Page Count: 15
- Language: English