Sexism in English Proverbs.doc

sexism in english proverbs1.0 introductionlanguage is a social phenomenon, and it is directly bound up with the social life. language is used in a specific social group and it is not only the carrier of the ideological content, but a mirror of social life. it responses some of peoples traditional thoughts, such as sexism. sexism in english proverbs does not only exist in china but also in other countries. for example, there is a proverb that long hair and short wit. it means most of women are foolish. therefore, how does english language reflect the social phenomenon? as we all know, english is the most masculine language and english is a man- centered language. so we can see sexism in english everywhere. for example, this word “man” can represent human beings. in addition, father and mother, husband and wife,men and women, prince and princess, brothers and sisters and so on, like this kind of word used together. all in all, the male is in the first place. howerver, this thesis will lay emphasis on the sexism in english proverbs, first this thesis will resolve what sexism is, then it analyzes the causes of the sexism in english proverbs. third it will analyze the phenomenon of sexism in english proverbs and the development trade of sexism in english proverbs.2.0 an introduction to sexism in english proverbssexism, in the oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary, it means that disapproving action based on the ideas or belief that the members of one are less intelligent, able, and skillful, etc, than the members of the other, especially that women are less able than men and those particular jobs and actions are suitable for women and others are suitable for men. sexism is prejudice or discrimination against people because of their sex. but in this society, sexism is toward women because of various reasons, such as society, economy, politics and so on.second, lets emphasis on sexism in english proverbs. from my point of view, proverbs are this type of language which are a source of stereotyping: proverbs depict women as passive words, such as jealous, chatterboxes, weak, stupid, slut, concerned with physical beauty. “there is nowadays recognition that language, as code, reflects cultural preoccupations and constrains the way people think”. english proverbs, as a special part of language, they can more or less embody peoples views and behaviors or system of the society, and of course provide a little glimpse or clues to the sexism in language. studies of proverbs relating to the sexes not only find stereotyped images of the sexes in proverbs but also reveal a high degree of misogyny expressed in them.“proverbs and set phrases are regarded as the cream of the language since they enrich its usage. they are posed as commonsense knowledge and are the true reflection of their culture, thus, they form part of the status quo in a given society”. as we all know, proverbs is kristallization of human wisdom and can respect incarnation of the concise language. the linguists think of the proverbs as a mirror of the ethnic, the live fossil of the language. recently, with the deep study of the language, our linguists have come a conclusion most of proverbs portray unavoidably the discrimination against women, and the inferior to males, besides, the lingusts have seen clearly that proverb express the affection of the male chauvinism. the following is a little phenomena about the sexism in english proverbs. it simply introduces this kind of phenomena. lately this thesis will discrible it in detail.2.1 role categoryin ancient times, women were deemed to be delicious food in the society all the time, or were compared to flower like rose. the roles of women in every country are almost passive, however, men are active. for instance: “a fair woman without virtue is like palled wine”, “a woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better they will be”, “all women may be won”, “words are women, and deeds are men”. the sentence “long hair and short wit” expresses women lack wisdom, but men are clever. another example goes like this: “when an ass climbs a ladder, we may find wisdom in women”. the sexist language expresses women lack wisdom and they are capricious. 2. 2 manner category in ancient times, most of people thought that men overmatched women. it means that men are successful but women are unsuccessful. in western culture, the value of a woman is to attract man using her body, while the value of a man is to finish some significant things using his wisdom. there are some evidences to prove my point, for instance, womans name relate closely to a womans physical anatomy, while mans name does not relate with his namesakes body, however, instead, remember the man because of his success, his achievement, and accomplishment. like the feudal society of our country, we are falimiar with diaocan, xishi because of their appearance, on the other hand, we are falimiar with li shiming because of his achievement. 2.3 marriage categoryin terms of marriage, there are much a lot of english proverbs proving that it is very important for women to be married. for example: “marry your son when you will, your daughter when you can” , it implies that marry you daughter quickly, or it is difficult.3.0 the causes of sexism in english languagelanguage is a sort of the appearance of the things, which tightly contact with the social structure, social behavior norms and social value system. such relationship between language and society functions the language as a mirror of social customs and the values of people, accordingly the sexism in language is the real reflection of social reality. the causes of sexism in english proverbs are various, including the cultural factor, the history factor, the traditional conceptions, and the economic factor. this chapter will analysis those four predominant causes.3.1 the causes of culture and historyas we all know, culture and history have a significant effect on the formation of the language. so, language also have an ampact on the sexism of proverbs.3.1.1 the effect of the systemin western traditional society, women are not beyond men from all aspects,such as economic status, judicial affairs, family life and so on. women are discriminated by the society. at that time, men is the god in a sense. for example, in ancient rome, rome law just clarrified roman into romen citizen and the wife of roman citizens, but no femal citizens. most people thought women affiliated to men (father or husband). they can not participate in political life, or enjoy any political rights, or have the independent political status because of their ignorance and incompetence. in the early days of foundation of america, women did not have voting right.3.1.2 the concept of religionthousands of years ago, the three major religious canons, doctrines reflect sexism in english proverbs. christian culture has two major negative comments, which women are the devils nets. the bible of the genesis wrote: mans first fall was caused by eve eating the forbidden fruit. she is the killer that human beings were expelled from the garden of eden. another is that women are mens subordinate. the reason why god made a woman is simply because it is not good for man to be alone. so god made a woman by a man of rib. we can see that from the bible. the original text is: “ and the lord god said, it is not good that the man should be alone; i will make him a helpmeet for him. and out of the ground the lord god formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever adam called every living creature, that was the name of thereof. and adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for adam there was not found a helpmeet for him. and the lord god caused a deep sleep to fall upon adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. and the rib, which the lord god had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. and adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my fleshes she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” (holy bible, 1901.genesis, 2:18-24)” from what i have written, we can see clear that men is the superiority. man was created the first by god, woman was created the last, even animals were created preceding woman. in addition, woman was created by a rib in the bible. so woman is the accessory of man. and as the bible say, the name woman means she was taken out of a manthe new testament of the holy bible plainly approved womans attachment to men. “ wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the lord. for the husband is the head of the wife, even as christ is the head of the churchtherefore as the church is subject unto christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” (ephesians 5: 22-24)”apart from this, all the significant figures are men in the bible. for example, the bible call the god father, then comes his son jesus christ. generally speaking, woman had hardly their names record, except some mothers who are famous for their sons like elizabeth, and some who famous for their devil deeds.eventually, fathers power only inherits his son, and only his son has the right to get it. as a matter of fact, the holy bible is mens book which describes mens power, and it is the man that dominates the world. because of the dominant position of the religion in western countries, it makes language come out sexism, even in the proverbs.religion has a great effect on the formation of social values and norms of behavior. most of religions think that woman obeys her man. different religions all think their own men were definitely inferior to the status of women.christian pastor warned that man has to earn money to support his family, however, his wife does her homework, and looks after their children. it is arranged by god.3.1.3 saint verbalismplato said: “women, slaves should not be imitated by the noble people”. women represent the weak people.” he thanks gods for the eight happynesses given by gods. the first one is that we are free when we are born, the second one is that we are men when we are born.3.1.4 the effect of educationlong long ago, there was higher education in west, howere, women were turned down by the higher education. after 16th century, female education has always been dominated in the hands of the church. the purpose of the church is simple and practical. on the one hand,women can find some things to do, so that they become bad. on the other hand, the church wants to turn women into sincere christian. until in the 1980s, the church began to loose the women education. from that time, the women education developped into publicity and secularization.3.1.5 traditional conceptionsthe notion that men are superior to women has a continuing impact on peoples ideology. moreover, it had been internalized as the standard of social morals and ethics, which are learned by girls since their birth. therefore, most part of women have adjust to such kind of ideology, and regard themselves as the appendage of men. unconsciously a set of norms of how men and women should be like or act had been formed. it is so called sex-role specialization. a crucial part of sex-role socialization is learning not only that male and female are different but also that one sex may be better than the other. it also called gender stereotype. a stereotype is a generalized and relatively fixed image of a person or persons belonging to a particular group. many stereotyped images for men in patriarchal cultures express values, which are highly regarded in such cultures: physical strength and force, intellectual superiority, rationalism, aggression, sexual prowess, independence, mastery over other beings and things. womens images, on the other hand, are based on features considered desirable in women by men but not highly valued in the patriarchal world: dependence, physical beauty, sexual attractiveness, emotionality, sensitivity and caring. individuals learn their languages and culture long before they learn to think independently.3.2 social economic causethe reason of sex discrimination in english proverbs is to be the inequality status among men and women. many and many a year ago, women are the boss in human history. we call that time matriarchal society. so women had a higher social status than men. howerer this situation did not continue many years. with the development of society, there were more and more physical work, women would not finish this kind of work like fishing, hunting, agriculture, so the status of women had extremely declined. on the contrary, men status increased. men became more and more important. at last, men had dominance over women, who had to be dependent on men. women lost many rights such as their social, economic and family status, even their right of name. this was the turning point for women. from then on, in paternal society, slavery society and capitalist society, women have been on the bottom of society. in long and endless course of history, sexism against women has been precipitated and accumulated. it is due to different labor division that leads to different social status.throughout its history, when one country wants to be stronger, it had to develop bearing. the most important is to bear boy. because the man is the guarantee of victory. so the man has a higher status than the woman.as we know, during the process of human civilization, which is also called as socialization, language changed as time went by. thus one of the most important causes of proverb sexism is the socialization.socialization begins at birth. children are typically dressed in either pink, or blue, which initially sets girl and boys apart. although infants cannot distinguish the message of these colors, adults can and it is at this point that gender role differentiation begins. parents actively impart their own learned and observed sense of what it means to be male or female to their children, thereby creating much personality and behavioral patterns. these differences as they receive subsequent reinforcement through school education, literature and the mass media, which help both men and women define their “place” in adult society. educationists have been concerned about sexism in print resources. for instance, in many textbooks, the predominance of male examples may suggest children that science is the field created for male. besides in the childrens literature, girls and boys are frequently depicted differently. girls are pictured as kind, attractive and serving, while boys are pictured as adventuresome and strong. accordingly, childrens reading material helps reinforce gender as a social division, and perpetuates inequalities between girls and boys and women and men. furthermore, mass media also have a great influence on peoples views about gender. socialization through the mass media begins even earlier than socialization in the educational system. through nursery rhymes such as little miss muffet and jack be nimble children learn that girls should be fearful and boys should be active and adventurous. through fairy tales and disney movies such as snow white and the seven dwarfs and cinderella children learn that females succeed by being beautiful, obedient, passive and subordinate to men; only in this way can they marry and live happily even after. whats more, most people spend a lot of time watching tv and reading newspapers everyday. so few people escape exposure to the vivid and recurrent patterns of images, information and values in the world of mass media, among which some are sex-biased. a survey of american television programs indicated that only 22% of the characters shown working outside the home were female. most often women were presented in terms of relationships, such as lover, wife, or mother. male characters in childrens programs were portrayed as more active, constructive, and helpful than female characters. it is more obvious in tv advertisement. “an analysis of the roles portrayed by women in print advertisements found that: the advertisements presented the following clichs about womens role: (1) a womans place is in the home, (2) women do not make important decisions or do important things, (3) women are dependent and need mens protection, and (4) men regard women primarily as sexual objects; they are not interested in women as people”. thus television has encouraged and reinforced the inequalities between men and women.4.0 the phenomenon of sexism in english proverbsproverbs can reflect a national experience, wisdom and truth, and reflect the specific culture, life, custom in some time.4.1 gender unknowin english proverbs, when the gender is not clear, we all use the masculine words such as he, man, jack. for example：（1）he that travels far knows much ( if you travel many place, you will know much.).（2）time and tide wait for no man (time would not wait for him or her).（3）every man is to his own taste (different people have different favourite).（4）all work and no play makes jack a dull boy (if you only play close attention to work, you will become a dull boy).we are familiar with this kind of english proverbs with easy vocabulary. it is easy for us to understand them. so we often use them into writing and oral english. most of us all think ourselves of knowing their real meanings. however, as another point of view, we can find the deep meanings. he, man and jack are used into all of us, but we do not use feminine words like she, woman in english proverbs.4.2 the content of sexism in english proverbs4.2.1 the attitude of societythere are many proverbs that look down on w