女权主义英文论文

1、 Högskolan Dalarna Course name: EN1019 English SociolinguisticsSupervisor: Soraya TharaniIs the word Feminism good or bad? -Analyzing the word Feminism in different gender groups. Semester, H2011 Junyu.Wu 870210T083 Table of contentsAbstract: the aim of this essay is to examine the use of the w

2、ord feminism in different gender groups: the education group, the age group and the social group. After analyzing the response from those groups, the readers can see the different reflection of feminism both from males and females in different groups. Then, the readers can find males and females tal

3、k differently of feminism in their representation. Also, different groups have different attitudes towards feminism. In conclusion, feminism is not a negative word that most people avoid. It should be a positive word that most people have accepted and it also represents the new opinion of young fema

4、les in the modern life.1. Introduction11.1 Aim12. Theoretical Background23. Methodology and Data23.1 Method of data analysis23.2 Data33.3 Method of data collection34. Data analysis and Results54.4 Results 55. Conclusion6References6Appendix6Introduction: In recent years, the t

5、opic of feminism has been argued both positively and negatively. Nowadays, for different genders, this word has different meanings and males and female also have different attitudes to feminism. Some males and females think its positive while some others disagree. In this way, the readers may think

6、about feminism as being either positive or negative and why different genders have different opinions of it. In this paper, I will choose three different groups; the education standards group, the age group and the social group both for males and females. Then, I will survey them. These groups will

7、be analyzed for different representation and ideologies in the language of males and females. The aim of this investigation is to see why males and females talk differently about this word. Lastly, feminism is not a negative word as some people think.Theoretical background: As to the meaning of femi

8、nism: most people think feminism is about equality of the sexes, and activism to achieve equality of women. (Lewis Jone Johnson: ) this theory is called Socialist Feminism and was used increasingly during the 1970s to describe a mixed theoretical and practical method to achieving womens equality. In

9、 addition, this theory analyzed the relation between the oppression of women and other oppression in society. (Napikoski Linda: ) The different meanings and attitudes of feminism come from gender groups. In the Cambridge dictionary, the definition of feminism is the belief that women should be allow

10、ed the same rights as men and be treated in the same way, but also when it is used to describe a man that means the behavior of man is similar to women. According to MS magazine; feminism sounds like a negative word for most women, they dont like it or use it.(Jolna Karon: ) However, a very interest

11、ing article which is from Men in Feminism said some men seem to be interested in Feminism; they prefer to acquire more knowledge of it and encourage more of them to realize that feminism benefits everyone.(Garcha Lizzie: .uk) Therefore, to some extent, the readers can find that males

12、and females still have different attitudes to this word. In the textbook, men and women talk differently was according to the fact that they have different ideologies in the society.(Wareing Shân: 2004: 86) Indeed, different ideologies sometimes influence their representation in language. Mitig

13、ated and aggravated forms, turn construction and interruption are examples (Wareing Shân: 2004: 87-88). Also, dominance theory, which causes the differences in their expression, is the main argument; we have to admit that men tend to have more power than women. So, the way we talk may be a refl

14、ection of the material differences between sexes, and may also reinforce those differences, making them seem normal, part of the natural order of things. (Wareing Shân: 2004:90) Methodology and Data: The different attitudes towards the word feminism sometime depend on the situation. According t

15、o this way of thinking, I will choose three different groups which are education group, age group and social group each group both have one male and one female to interview. Then I will ask them as least five questions about feminism and write down the responses. Finally, I will organize and analyze

16、 their answer both from the male side and the female side. After analyzing the response, the readers can find that females and males talk differently of feminism in their representation. Then, feminism in different groups reflects completely different attitudes both from males and females.Question:

17、1.What do you think about the word feminism? 2. Do you like to use it, when you chat with someone? 3. What do you think about feminism and gender? 4. When you hear someone use feminism what do you think? 5. If you are man or women, do you want to be in feminism?The interviewers include (five Chinese

18、, one Bangladeshi, two Italians, one Swedish and one Swiss) Education group; high education: one Swedish female and one Chinese male in MA programme. High school education: one Chinese male and one Swiss female.Age group; 20-30: one Chinese male 26 years old and one Italian female 19 years old. 50-6

19、0: two Chinese people both male 58 years old and female 54 years old.Social group; Asian group: one Chinese female and one Bangladeshi male. European group: two Italians both male and female. Data section:The responses of different groups: Education group: Firstly, higher education team: Chinese mal

20、e Zhang Zi Jun said: feminism just a normal word for me, it expresses female and male can stand at the same level. I like use it and Actually I like to be in feminism and I agree on women being a leadership over the world because it helps slow down the pressure of men. Swedish female Camilla Klangeb

21、o said: Its a powerful word and I dont use it often but I can use it. I think it means good and I think women should be more power than men. Secondly, high school education team: Chinese male Ma Hong said: Its impossible let women control the world. Swiss female Aline Vullioud said: It could be powe

22、r word but I dont use it and I think it not so important for me. Age group: Firstly, 20-30 years: Chinese male Zhang Zi Jun said: its normal word for me, feminism is word that help people to raise the standard of female. Its fine. Italian female Martina said: Its not very strong but I dont use it mu

23、ch, the word is more power and little bit impolite. This word is normal for listening to women and more common for men. I dont know I want to be in feminism or not, but I like to use it in speaking. Secondly, 50-60: Chinese male Jing Wu said: I dont know more about it, I think its a negative word an

24、d I agree with the opinion that women have right and power but just in family relationship. Men are still much better than women in other areas. Chinese female Ying Xiao Hu said: I dont want to think more, I prefer weaker word such as equality, and I dont want to use it, so strong. Social group: Fir

25、stly, Asian team: Bangladeshi male MD.Ashraful Rahman Khan said: feminism is a simple word to show woman as equal as man, well, it is used to represent a woman more strong and powerful in the society, and I dont want to be in feminism because men should have the power in the society or the nation. C

26、hinese female Yang Yong Ling said: Its so strong; I dont want to use it and I dont want to be in feminism because the social environment I grow up with make my mind prefers to live depend on men rather than lead to something. Secondly, European team: Italian male Nicola Moriconi said: I think no pro

27、blem I use it, I think its wrong in generation this word both have different meaning for men and women, and I think women are equal as men. Italian female Martina said: I think women should be a leadership in countries like in my country, more women work in political and economic place Data analysis

28、 and Results: Males and females talk differently of feminism as can be seen in the following examples. Firstly, females prefer to use more hedge and epistemic modal forms than males. For example, from three groups responses, females frequently use I think and modal auxiliary verb should, can and cou

29、ld which are used to indicate that they dont want to sound completely certain about the word feminism and they avoid answering directly the questions because they think feminism is very powerful and strong. So, its doesnt mean negative but still females feel nervous when they face power. Comparing t

30、he responses of females, males always give us direct answer such as, its. Secondly, females are often very highly collaborating in their conversation than males. In addition, each interview lasted five minuses, but for females, they often take longer than that time. Also, from the responses of the t

31、hird group, we can see that the Chinese female Yang Yong Ling gives us more reasons to indicate why her opinion different. Equally, the Italian female Martina gives us more examples about her own country womens life. From both examples, the readers also can find that women try to give more indirect

32、answers of feminism. Then, males answers are always simple and short, they dont want to talk about other things. On one hand, the reason why feminism is a positive word can be indicated from different gender groups in the research. First of all, less confidence and an unequal position make some fema

33、les want to have more power and right. So, they support feminism as something positive. For instance, from the higher education team and the young age team, the Italian female Martina said I like to use it in speaking, women should be leaders and the Swedish female Camilla Klangebo said: I think it

34、means good and I think women should be more powerful than men. Then, we can find that they use more modal auxiliary verbs. That means nowadays even though women prefer more power but still they are less confident of it and they still havedominance theory in their mind. Thus, they think feminism mean

35、s power and they want to obtain power. Secondly, some males want women to help them to reduce the pressure of society so they prefer feminism is positive. For instance, males who come from both teams often agree on feminism is a positive word. The Chinese male Zhang Zi Jun sustains that feminism is

36、fine and he gives us a fashion idea, he said: I agree on women be leaders and it helps slow down the pressure of men . From here, the readers can see that nowadays young higher education males endure more pressures than other males because only Zhang Zi Jun mentions about the pressure of men in the

37、society. Thirdly, some males support feminism because they think women should be equal. The example is: the Italian male Nicola Moriconi said: I think women are equal as men. On the other hand, some evidences show that feminism is a negative word in the research. Firstly, lack of knowledge of femini

38、sm is the main reason why there is a negative factor in some gender groups. For example, from the high school education team and the old age team, the Swiss female Aline Vullioud mentions that she doesnt use it and also she doesnt know about it, and the Chinese female Ying Xiao Hu said: I dont want

39、to think more and use it. Equally, from both teams, the Chinese male Jing Wu feels feminism is negative, he also said: I dont know more about it. So, an interesting thing which can be found is that poor education and old people are easier to think strange things are negative and they hardly accept n

40、ew things. Secondly, different ideologies make people different in constructing a world view and ways of thinking. In addition, from the Asian team, the Chinese female Yang Yong Ling said the social surrounding that she grew up in influenced her mind. Comparing the answer from the Italian female Mar

41、tina, the readers should concede that the Asian and the European people have completely different ideologies of feminism. So, the Asian group thinks feminism is negative. According to this way of thinking, feminism is not a really negative word in modern society because less knowledge is not a good

42、reason to support feminism as a negative word. As a result, it is difficult to say which ideology of social system is right because it represents different common sense in different society. Therefore, to some extent, the readers should admit that feminism is not a bad word. It could be a positive w

43、ord and it has been accepted by the modern society.Conclusion: In conclusion, and based on the research, the readers can see that feminism is not really a bad word and the readers also can find that males and females talk and think differently of feminism. The reasons why males and females talk diff

44、erently of feminism is because most females still feel nervous when they face power, so, they prefer indirect speech act answer. And males still have dominance theory, so their responses always show that they choose direct speech act answer. Lastly, feminism is a more positive word due to the reason that nowadays women want to have more power so they think feminism is positive and the traditional theory may be wrong. Then men want women to help them to reduce the pressure of society so they prefer to think of