Swearing and Gender Essay Example
Research Paper
Yuan Liu
Writing Workshop II
2012/11/05
Over the past decades, as the women’s movement continues, the gender roles within the society have undergone significant changes. These changes also challenged the relationship between men and women, bringing new conflicts to the communications between genders. To reduce the conflicts, researches have been discussing the differences of the way men and women communicate, for the past years. Swear words, often representing aggression and violence, are always considered a factor that might trigger conflicts, and for the past few decades, the role of obscenity has also undergone significant changes. Some researches have proved that men and women do swear for different purposes and in different contexts. Therefore, whether the difference of using swear words between men and women contribute to the conflicts of communications between genders becomes an important question. This paper argues that the different motives and perceptions towards swear words between genders and the different ways of using swear words under the guidance of gender stereotypes can create conflicts between males and females.
First of all, men and women have different perceptions about swear words. Researches have proven that in many contexts, women are more sensitive about swear words than men and explained the sociological reasons for this phenomenon. One important reason is the traditional culture has expected women to use obscenity less. The use of swear words often conveys aggressive and offensive information and is often considered as a masculine activity. Therefore, women using swear words might be considered as a means of constructing masculine identity and a transgression of traditional female image. (Coates, 1993; de Klerk, 1991, 1997; Stapleton, 2003) Besides, swear words often function as a taboo, and women have been more fully subjects to the effects of taboos than men have. (cf. Guerin, 1992; Humphrey, 1993) Another
Yuan Liu
Writing Workshop II
2012/11/05
Over the past decades, as the women’s movement continues, the gender roles within the society have undergone significant changes. These changes also challenged the relationship between men and women, bringing new conflicts to the communications between genders. To reduce the conflicts, researches have been discussing the differences of the way men and women communicate, for the past years. Swear words, often representing aggression and violence, are always considered a factor that might trigger conflicts, and for the past few decades, the role of obscenity has also undergone significant changes. Some researches have proved that men and women do swear for different purposes and in different contexts. Therefore, whether the difference of using swear words between men and women contribute to the conflicts of communications between genders becomes an important question. This paper argues that the different motives and perceptions towards swear words between genders and the different ways of using swear words under the guidance of gender stereotypes can create conflicts between males and females.
First of all, men and women have different perceptions about swear words. Researches have proven that in many contexts, women are more sensitive about swear words than men and explained the sociological reasons for this phenomenon. One important reason is the traditional culture has expected women to use obscenity less. The use of swear words often conveys aggressive and offensive information and is often considered as a masculine activity. Therefore, women using swear words might be considered as a means of constructing masculine identity and a transgression of traditional female image. (Coates, 1993; de Klerk, 1991, 1997; Stapleton, 2003) Besides, swear words often function as a taboo, and women have been more fully subjects to the effects of taboos than men have. (cf. Guerin, 1992; Humphrey, 1993) Another