A Study Of Sexism Phenomenon In English

Sexism is a universal social phenomenon, which is reflected not only in each aspect of social life, but also in the language. The linguists paid more attention to the research of the relationship between language and gender and one of the major subjects is the phenomenon of gender discrimination in language. We can often find the phenomenon that discriminate and depreciate females. However, there also exists anti-male bias phenomenon in English, which is seldom studied. The thesis discusses gender discrimination in English, including both the discrimination against females and the anti-male bias.Firstly, this thesis introduces its main idea, namely, language, culture and society are closely interacted; there are many factors discriminatory against females and there is another aspect in society which is unfavorable to males. The gender discrimination phenomenon in language is just the reflection of stereotyped ideas in the society. Both males and females, to some extent, are the victims of social stereotyped ideas. Secondly, this thesis introduces the research of the subject both at home and abroad. Then, relevant theories are introduced, including Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and presupposition, providing theoretic support for the thesis. Next, the thesis introduces the gender discrimination in English in detail from the perspectives of vocabulary, semantics and language use. Then, this thesis explores the causes for the gender discrimination in English from the perspective of society and culture. Finally, this thesis analyzes the efforts made in order to eliminate the gender discrimination in English. And in the last chapter, a brief conclusion is made for the whole thesis.Language is an important tool for communication and a tool to reflect social reality. It does not discriminate one certain gender by itself. However, as a social phenomenon, it inevitably reflects various aspects of social life. The gender discrimination phenomenon is reflected in various aspects of social life. This thesis demonstrates the existence of discrimination phenomenon against females and anti-male bias in English with a large number of examples and explores the manifestation and causes of these phenomena from various aspects. The thesis aims to prove that to some extent, both males and females are the victims of social stereotyped ideas. In order to eliminate the gender discrimination in language, it is necessary to eliminate the discriminatory and prejudiced ideas against females and males.