gender theorists

• Schulz and Lakoff


  Looked into 'ess' suffix and semantic derogation (words have gained negative connotations over time). Eg: master and mistress - connotations of prostitution
• Stanley 


  Research the number of insults of women vs men. 220 to describe a promiscuous women and 20 for men
• Tyger Drew-Honey


  Asked people to describe a woman that slept with 30 people and then a man. Both men and women called the women a slut and a slag, the man was a lad
• Dale Spender - 'male as norm'


  Believes there is a culture of 'male as norm' - men are dominant and women are add-ons. Eg: men are always introduced first (Lord and Lady, Mr and Mrs). When women go first it is symbolic of their lesser role (mother and father)
• Zimmerman and West


  Studied interruptions between men and women. found the men interrupted 96-100% more
• beattie


  Researched 10x the corpus as Zimmerman and West and discovered there was an equal number of interruptions by women and men
• Pamela Fishman


  Conversations between men and women fail due to how men act. Men use 1/3 of the number of questions as women and give minimal responses. This leads to 'conversational shitwork' for the woman
• Otto Jesperson


  Women speak without thinking and use more non-fluency features. His research is dismissed as speculative
• Onnela 


  Disputes Jesperson. Found that with master's students, there was similar MLU (mean length of utterance)
• Lakoff


  List of features in spoken language that make women's language weak: Hypercorrect grammar, over-apologising, empty adjectives, tag questions, overuse of intensifiers, special lexicon, less swearing, lacking a sense of humour
• Kira Hall


  Phone sex workers use Lakoff's features to appear more feminine
• O'Barr and Atkins


  Looked at a courtroom and found that lower-class men used Lakoff's features. Implies it is not to do with gender but power - 'powerless language'
• Economic and Social Research council


  There has been an 500% increase in the use of 'fuck' by women since the 1990s
• Deborah Tannen - difference model


  Defined 6 clear differences between the genders
• The differences (Deborah Tannen)

  • Advice vs understanding - men would rather find a solution than understand
  • orders vs proposals - men use more imperatives and women use ameliorated requests
  • status vs support - male convo characterised by a need to be in control whereas women prefer to be supported
  • information vs feelings - men tend to give factual info, women give an emotional overview
  • independency vs intimacy - men focus on being independent whereas women prefer the intimacy of a situation
  • conflict vs compromise - women often compromise whereas men create conflict
• Deborah Tannen - types of speakers


  high involvement (men) - take an active role in the convo, be it by leading or backchanneling

  high considerateness (women) - speak more slowly and avoid talking at the same time as someone else
• Deborah Tannen - types of speaking


  report - used by men, direct.

  rapport - used by women, used to create and sustain relationships
• Jennifer Coates


  Researched all-male and all-female groups. States they converse differently, but topics are similar. States that techniques used by women to maintain convo aren't signs of inferiority, but intelligence
• Deborah Jones - gossiping

  Gossiping comes in 3 parts:

  scandal - women discuss the behaviour of others (usually women)

  bitching - expression of anger, not because they want change but just as relief

  chatting - intimate form of gossiping where women mutually self-disclose, and nurturing takes place
• Deborah Cameron


  Says that girls bitch because covertly dominant behaviour is more acceptable for women
• Kuiper 


  Men use more insults and expeletives
• Pilkington - 'locker-room banter'


  Created within all-male groups. Found that insults were a part of this culture and created bonds
• Kate Millet


  'the tone and ethos of men's house culture is sadistic, power-oriented, and latently homosexual, frequently narcissistic in its energy and motives'
• Valentova and Havlicek

  'perceived sexual orientation'. Whether people could tell a man's sexuality based on aesthetics and voice. Participants could and stated there was a certain femininity such as elongated /l/ vowel sounds (like in towel)
• Northwestern University


  Research found the lesbian, gay and bisexual people showed no difference at birth in vowel production but chose to selectively adopt vowel production of certain social groups. Also found that gay/bisexual men didn't necessarily adopt vowel sounds from women and that lesbian/bisexual women didn't necessarily adopt vowel sounds from men
• William Leap - 'lavender linguistics'


  Describes the sociolect of homosexuals. Believes the way homosexuals interact with heterosexuals and other homosexuals differ, claiming it is a whole other language
• code masking homosexual behaviour


  Towards the end of the 19th century a code developed from performers and workers in theatres, fairgrounds, circuses and fish markets. It was used to mask homosexual behaviour in a time where it was illegal to be gay
• Judith Butler - theory of performativity 


  One constructs their gender based on how they behave and the language they use. Your language linguistically determines you
• Perrson


  Animal insults are used to allude to a woman's sexual behaviour - usually to imply prositution
• Parker et al


  Commenting on a woman's sexual nature is designed to damage her social status and cause negative psychological effects
• Holmes


  women are often referred to as food and animals - 'cow' and 'sugar'
• Greif


  Parents interrupt daughters more than sons and male parents interrupt more overall
• The Bechdel test


  Whether a piece of work (book, film, theatre, TV etc) has 2 women that talk to each other about something other than men
• Howe


  men are more active participants, keen to respond and provide their opinion. Women are active listeners, responding through backchanneling
• Hyde - 'The gender similarities hypothesis'


  there are more similarities between the genders than there is difference