Gender neutrality and language

[Anthea Fraser Gupta]

On the God question (not sure I fully understand this one, btw).......

Obviously if anyone wants to use language to express their own beliefs
or prejudices, they will, can, and do. Indeed, we all do.  So my belief
that people are (in some fundamental sense) 'equal' is something I try
to reflect in the way that I refer to people of diverse backgrounds. I
also regard 'G/god(s)' as artefacts of human culture and I suppose that
is reflected in my language too. When I was a Christian I spoke and
wrote about it differently. 

If someone believes men are divinely ordained to be the bosses of women,
then we could expect it to be reflected in their language as well as in
other aspects of their behaviour. 

Anthea
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Anthea Fraser Gupta (Dr)

School of English, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT
<www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg>

NB: Reply to a.f.gupta at leeds.ac.uk

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