Sexist Language?
Some complain that the English language can tend to be sexist:
1. The title Mr. can be used for a married or unmarried man, while a woman's marital status must be brought up every time she is addressed (Miss vs. Mrs.)
2. He is the pronoun of choice for referring to a generic person, as if men were a more fundamental type of human being than women (for example "What is a person to do if he finds his language lacking in gender-neutral pronouns?").
But English is not alone. Japanese, to a greater extent, has what might be thought of as sexism built into the language. Let's compare words for "husband" and "wife".
1. 主人 (shujin), used to refer to husbands, and literally means "lord" or "master". (The first character "shu" is the one used in the Japanese Bible in place of the Hebrew word YHWH, where you would find LORD in all-caps in an English version.)
2. 家内 (kanai), used to refer to wives, and literally means "inside the house". I'd love to hear a feminist's take on this one.
3. 奥さん (okusan), used to refer to wives, and literally means "behind", "within", or "further inside", giving a sense that the husband is the face to the outside world and the wife is kept in. (I have heard one woman explain that it could be thought of as a sign of affection, that a husband keeps his greatest treasure hidden away).
4. 愚妻 (gusai), used to introduce your wife, especially to a superior, and literally means "stupid/foolish wife", as in "this is my boss...And boss, this is my foolish wife." It could be said that this too might be a sign of marital unity, that is, when a Japanese man is to speak humbly about himself, he also must be humble about his wife because they are one, and to speak highly of his wife would be to speak highly of himself. But then again, there is no equivalent word a woman could use to introduce her husband which would mean "stupid husband". She could still use "shujin" (lord, master).
I should say that these words don't necessarily bring to mind their literal meanings every time they're used. They're usually just used according to their social function without much thought about the original meanings.
posted by Stephen @ 6/03/2006 06:08:00 PM
3 Comments:
In Romanian, the word you use to address to a man means “lord” and the word you use to address to a woman is the feminine of the word “lord”. It’s like the land of kings and queens :).
Stephen,
You don't know me, but I am a somewhat distant relative. My mother, Mary Stephens Rogers, is first cousin to your grandfather. She recently went to NC for his 80th birthday gathering. I enjoyed browsing through your blog, and wanted to introduce you to my daughter, Catherine, who moved to Bangkok this summer to teach music at the International Community School there. She is very involved with the MTW team in Bangkok on a volunteer basis, as her job as music teacher at ICS is a full time position. I will send her your blog address (her's is Catherinegracerogers.blogspot.com). Perhaps you two might meet up one day.
Carl Rogers
That’s not all of the sexism in Japanese. The word “kyōdai” comes from the on’yomi of the words for “older brother” and “younger brother,” so it should rightfully refer only to brothers, but they try to pass it off as referring to siblings of either sex, which it really doesn’t. The proper word for “sisters” is “shimai”.
Post a Comment
<< Home