Try using Daring: A person in control of their life, who is not afraid to take risks. Instead of Hussy : An impudent or immoral girl or woman. As diversity is one of Babbel’s most important values, it was important for us to devise a more balanced list of phrases to use in place of these derogatory, sexist terms.” Words to stop using, and words to start using:
Ted Mentele, expert in Didactics at Babbel, comments: “The English language is full of demeaning words that are too frequently associated only with females, often without us even realizing it. To balance things out, this linguistic guide is designed to get people speaking less sexist lingo.
Raising awareness of some of the terms that perpetuate assumptions about women, Babbel’s list of alternatives more accurately explains certain traits. Without questioning this, the sexism implicit in historical terminology has filtered down to our everyday language, from ‘witch’ to ‘cute’ to ‘Debbie downer’. We also don’t question why condescending words, like ‘bubbly’ and ‘ditsy’, are nearly always used to describe women. We recognize sexism in these historical words, but they’re hardly taboo: the fictional character Bridget Jones refers to herself as a spinster, for example. Revealing the sexist attitudes of past societies, all the female words hold insulting and disrespectful connotations, while the male terms are associated with power, wealth, high status and sexual superiority. ‘Spinster’ (definition: an unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage) becomes ‘bachelor’ (definition: a man who is not and has never been married, usually considered eligible), ‘mistress’ (definition: an unmarried woman having a relationship with a man) converts to ‘master’ (definition: a man who has people working for him, especially servants or slaves). What happens when we translate derogatory words about women to their male equivalents?
These are Canada's best diversity employers in 2019.Canada ranks 11th best country in the world for female economic empowerment.23 Canadian women currently making big moves in the tech scene.Which is why we asked leading language learning app Babbel to help walk us through some balanced alternatives to these sexist terms so we can start treating the women in our lives with the words they deserve. What about phrases like ‘Debbie downer’ or ‘stroppy Susan’? Why do these type of sayings always feature feminine personas?īullsh*t, that’s why. Have you ever considered that the words ‘spinster’, ‘mistress’, and ‘ditsy’ exist only for women.