Skip to main content
Original Communication

Sexism and Attitudes Toward Gender-Neutral Language

The Case of English, French, and German

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1024/1421-0185/a000078

We examined the relationships between three forms of sexism (modern, benevolent, and hostile) and two components of attitudes toward gender-neutral language (attitudes toward gender-related language reforms and recognition of sexist language) across different contexts. A questionnaire study (N = 446) was conducted among students in the United Kingdom and in two (French- and German-speaking) regions of Switzerland. While we expected to find that all forms of sexism are generally related to negative attitudes toward gender-neutral language, we expected attitudes to be more positive and less related to sexist beliefs in a context in which gender-neutral language is firmly established (the UK) compared to contexts in which the use of gender-neutral language was introduced only recently (the German-speaking part of Switzerland) or is still seldom (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). We found that, across all contexts, modern and hostile sexist beliefs were indeed related to negative attitudes toward gender-related language reforms, while, intriguingly, benevolent sexist beliefs were related to positive attitudes in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Recognition of sexist language was significantly related to modern sexism only. Finally, British students were found to express more positive attitudes toward gender-neutral language (both components) than Swiss students.

References

  • Académie Française . (2002). Féminisation des noms de métiers, fonctions, grades et titers [Feminization of job titles, posts, ranks, and qualifications]. Retrieved from www.academie-francaise.fr/actualites/feminisation.asp First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Albrecht, U. (2000). Unsere Sprache ist verbildet durch einen Maskulinismus: Die deutsche Schweiz auf dem Weg zu einer geschlechtergerechten Sprache [Our language is spoiled by masculinism: German-speaking Switzerland on the way to a gender-fair language]. Bulletin Suisse de Psychologie Appliquée, 72, 11–46. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • American Psychological Association . (1977). Guidelines for nonsexist language in APA journals. Publication manual change sheet 2. Washington, DC: Author. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Béguelin, M. J., Elmiger, D. (1999). Les consignes de «féminisation» du lexique et du discours: L’exemple de la Suisse romande [Instructions on how to “feminize” the lexicon and discourse: The example of French-speaking Switzerland]. In M. E. Almeida, M. Maillard (Eds.), O feminino nas línguas, culturas e literaturas (pp. 51–84). Funchal, Portugal: Centro Metagram. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Campbell, B., Schellenberg, E. G., Senn, C. Y. (1997). Evaluating measures of contemporary sexism. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 89–102.doi 10.1111/j.1471–6402.1997.tb00102.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Chancellerie Fédérale Suisse . (1993). Formulation non sexiste: Circulaire de la Chancellerie Fédérale du 19 août 1993 [Nonsexist language: Circular of the Federal Chancellery, August 19, 1993]. Berne, Switzerland: Services Linguistiques Centraux. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation: Analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Cralley, E. L., Rusher, J. B. (2005). Lady, girl, female or woman: Sexism and cognitive busyness predict use of gender-biased nouns. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 24, 300–314.doi 10.1177/0261927X05278391 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Cronin, C., Jreisat, S. (1995). Effects of modeling on the use of nonsexist language among high school freshpersons and seniors. Sex Roles, 33, 819–830.doi 10.1007/BF01544781 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Dardenne, B., Delacolette, N., Grégoire, C., Lecocq, D. (2006). Structure latente et validation de la version française de l’Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: L’échelle de sexisme ambivalent [Latent structure of the French validation of the ambivalent sexism inventory: chelle de sexisme ambivalent]. L’Année Psychologique, 106, 235–264. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Duden . (2005). Die Grammatik (7. Aufl.) [German grammar (7th ed.)]. Mannheim, Germany: Duden. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Eagly, A. H., Mladinic, A. (1993). Are people prejudiced against women? Some answers from research on attitudes, gender stereotypes, and judgments of competence. European Review of Social Psychology, 5, 1–35. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Eckes, T., Six-Materna, I. (1998). Leugnung von Diskriminierung: Eine Skala zur Erfassung des modernen Sexismus [Denial of discrimination: A scale measuring modern sexism]. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 29, 224–238. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Eckes, T., Six-Materna, I. (1999). Hostilität und Benevolenz: Eine Skala zur Erfassung des ambivalenten Sexismus [Hostility and benevolence: A scale measuring ambivalent sexism]. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 30, 211–228. First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar

  • Gastil, J. (1990). Generic pronouns and sexist language: The oxymoronic character of masculine generics. Sex Roles, 23, 629–643. doi 10.1007/BF00289252 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Glick, P., Fiske, S. T. (1996). The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 491–512. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.491 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Glick, P., Fiske, S. T. (1997). Hostile and benevolent sexism: Measuring ambivalent sexist attitudes toward women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 119–135. doi 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00104.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Glick, P., Fiske, S. T. (2001). Ambivalent stereotypes as legitimizing ideologies: Differentiating paternalistic and envious prejudice. In J. T. Jost, B. Mayor (Eds.), The psychology of legitimacy: Emerging perspectives on ideology, justice, and intergroup relations (pp. 278–306). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Glick, P., Diebold, J., Bailey-Werner, B., Zhu, L. (1997). The two faces of Adam: Ambivalent sexism and polarized attitudes toward women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 1323–1334. doi 10.1177/01461672972312009 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Gygax, P., Gabriel, U., Sarrasin, O., Oakhill, J., Garnham, A. (2008). There is no generic masculine in French and German: When beauticians, musicians and mechanics are all men. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23, 464–485. doi 10.1080/01690960701702035 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Hamilton, M. C. (1988). Using masculine generics: Does generic he increase male bias in the user’s imagery? Sex Roles, 19, 785–798. doi 10.1007/BF00288993 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Jacobson, M. B., Insko, W. R., Jr. (1985). Use of nonsexist pronouns as a function of one’s feminist orientation. Sex Roles, 13, 1–7. doi 10.1007/BF00287456 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Lakoff, R. (1975). Language and women’s place. New York: Harper & Row. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Lee, T. L., Fiske, S. T., Glick, P. (2010). Next gen ambivalent sexism: Converging correlates, causality in context, and converse causality, an introduction to the Special Issue. Sex Roles, 62, 395–404. doi 10.1007/s11199-010-9747-9 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Markowitz, J. (1984). The impact of sexist-language controversy and regulation on language in university documents. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 8, 331–347. doi 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1984.tb00641 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Matheson, K., Kristiansen, C. M. (1987). The effect of sexist attitudes and social structure on the use of sex-biased pronouns. Journal of Social Psychology, 127, 395–398. First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • McConahay, J. B. (1986). Modern racism, ambivalence, and the Modern Racism Scale. In J. F. Dovidio, D. L. Gaertner (Eds.), Prejudice, discrimination, and racism (pp. 91–125). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Moser, F., Sato, S., Chiarini, T., Dmitrow-Devold, K., Kuhn, E. (2011). Comparative analysis of existing guidelines for gender-fair language within the ITN LCG Network – WORK PACKAGE B: Report on Milestone 1. Retrieved from ilias.unibe.ch/ilias.php?ref_id=256402&page=WORK_PACKAGE_B%3A_Report_on_Milestone_1&wpg_id=2106&cmd=downloadFile&cmdClass=ilwikipagegui&cmdNode=lg:le:lc&baseClass=ilwikihandlergui&file_id=il__file_409557 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Mucchi-Faina, A. (2005). Visible or influential? Language reforms and gender (in)equality. Social Science Information, 44, 189–215. doi 10.1177/0539018405050466 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • National Council of Teachers of English . (1975). Guidelines for nonsexist use of language in NCTF publications. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • O’Brien, R. M. (2007). A caution regarding rules of thumb for variance inflation factors. Quality & Quantity, 41, 673–690. doi 10.1007/s11135-006-9018-6 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Parks, J. B., Roberton, M. A. (1998a). Contemporary arguments against nonsexist language: Blaubergs (1980) revisited. Sex Roles, 39, 445–461. doi 10.1023/A:1018827227128 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Parks, J. B., Roberton, M. A. (1998b). Influence of age, gender, and context on attitudes toward sexist/nonsexist language: Is sport a special case? Sex Roles, 38, 477–494. doi 10.1023/ A:1018766023667 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Parks, J. B., Roberton, M. A. (2000). Development and validation of an instrument to measure attitudes toward sexist/nonsexist language. Sex Roles, 42, 415–438. doi 10.1023/A: 1007002422225 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Parks, J. B., Roberton, M. A. (2001). Erratum: Inventory of Attitudes Toward Sexist/Nonsexist Language-General (IASNL-G): A correction in scoring procedures. Sex Roles, 44, 253. doi 10.1023/A:1017376822176 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Parks, J. B., Roberton, M. A. (2004). Attitudes toward women mediate the gender effect on attitudes toward sexist language. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 233–239. doi 10.1111/ j.1471-6402.2004.00140.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Parks, J. B., Roberton, M. A. (2008). Generation gaps in attitudes toward sexist/nonsexist language. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 27, 276–283. doi 10.1177/ 0261927X08317956 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Prentice, D. A. (1994). Do language reforms change our way of thinking? Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 13, 3–19. doi 10.1177/0261927X94131001 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Rubin, D. L., Greene, K. L. (1991). Effects of biological and psychological gender, age cohort, and interviewer gender on attitudes toward gender-inclusive/exclusive language. Sex Roles, 24, 391–412. doi 10.1007/BF00289330 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Sibley, C. G., Perry, R. (2010). An opposing process model of benevolent sexism. Sex Roles, 62, 438–452. doi 10.1007/ s11199-009-9705-6 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Spence, J. T., Helmreich, R. L. (1972). The Attitudes Toward Women Scale: An objective instrument to measure attitudes toward the rights and roles of women in contemporary society. JSAS: Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 2, 66–67. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Stahlberg, D., Sczesny, S. (2001). Effekte des generischen Maskulinums und alternativer Sprachformen auf den gedanklichen Einbezug von Frauen [Effects of the generic masculine and alternative forms on the inclusion of women in mental representations]. Psychologische Rundschau, 52, 131–140. First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar

  • Swim, J. K., Aikin, K. J., Hall, W. S., Hunter, B. A. (1995). Sexism and racism: Old-fashioned and modern prejudices. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 199–214. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.68.2.199 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Swim, J. K., Mallett, R., Stangor, C. (2004). Understanding subtle sexism: Detection and use of sexist language. Sex Roles, 51, 117–128. doi 10.1023/B:SERS.0000037757.73192.06 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • United Kingdom Parliament . (1975). Sex Discrimination Act 1975. London: HMSO. Retrieved from www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/65/pdfs/ukpga_19750065_en.pdf First citation in articleGoogle Scholar