How many times have you had this happen to you? (Directed at our female fans.) ~Athena Paragon A woman, speaking clearly and out loud, can say something that no one appears to hear, only to have a man repeat it minutes, maybe seconds later, to accolades and group discussion. These linguistic patterns are consequential in many ways, not the least of which is the way that they result in unjust courtroom dynamics, where adversarial speech governs proceedings and gendered expression results in womens testimonies being interrupted, discounted and portrayed as not credible according to masculinized speech norms. Courtrooms also show exactly how credibility and status, womens being lower, are also doubly affected by race. If Black women testifying in court adopt what is often categorized as [white] womens language, they are considered less credible. However, if they are more assertive, white jurors find them rude, hostile, out of control, and, hence [again], less credible. Silence might be an approach taken by women to adapt to the double bind, but silence doesnt help when youre testifying. The best part though is that we are socialized to think women talk more. Listener bias results in most people thinking that women are hogging the floor when men are actually dominating. alternet.org/gender/10-words-every-girl-should-learn?page=0%2C1&src=newsletter1009682&paging=off¤t_page=1
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 01:00:00 +0000
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