Gendered Verbal Communication

Verbal communication is one of the things I have always had the hardest time correcting. I was raised, like many others around me, using gendered vocabulary. It’s something that I have become more aware of over the last couple of years, but I still catch myself slipping up on occasion. Furthermore, gendered vocabulary seems to be some of the most widely used vocabulary today. It’s something that many people aren’t aware that they do, and often times tradition would cause people to not even think about it. For example, the statement “I now pronounce you man and wife” appears to exclude women from the decision of getting married. It can also draw conclusions that the women is now a possession of the mans, as “wife” replaces the womans identity.

            This is a troubling topic, and one that will be extremely difficult to overcome. I feel that it is something that will be around for the foreseeable future, as it is so engrained in our culture. I believe that the only way gender-neutral speech will become mainstream is by teaching children the difference at a young age. Hopefully over time this is something that will happen and gender-neutral speech will become the only speech.