Language and Gender (review)

Language and gender is an intriguing, albeit brief, collection of writings on a wide variety of topics on gender. The text is accompanied by a rich assortment of support material comprised of exercises and examples of gendered culture and language from the real world. Although the opening chapter is a bit light in content, the book quickly finds sure footing and gets down to the business of disambiguating gender and sex for the uninitiated. Thereafter follows a broad (pun intended) range of topics including the effect of gender on speech styles, language and cognition, gender stereotyping, and a chapter on political correctness that goes beyond issues of gender to include discussions of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, and disability.

Goddard and Patterson provide a wealth of exercises designed to stimulate in-class discussions and small group activities. Furthermore, the numerous exercises, most of which are quite practical, are well-suited to private reflection and homework exercises. They have done a particularly good job of finding relevant and entertaining examples to support the assertions they are making. I especially enjoyed a story (41–2) of a Harlequin Romance-style seduction scene in which the female and male roles are reversed. The woman’s language is sexually assertive, powerful, and explicit, whereas that of the man is demure and hesitant and shows his reluctance to succumb to his hidden passions. That many reactions to it have been laughter or discomfort reveals long held notions concerning male (active) and female (passive) sexuality and how those beliefs are encoded by language.

In terms of audience, this book, very basic and very reasonable in price, could serve as a supplemental text for a number of courses in, for example, language and culture, sociolinguistics, or introductory courses in linguistics. However, it needs to be heavily supplemented by other readings or in-class lectures on the topics. It would also make an excellent resource for professors looking for activities sure to stimulate debate and interest in their classroom discussions on gender.

For further editions, I would recommend a more developed initial chapter that would lay out the framework within which the topics would be presented. This is clearly an introductory text, and students will need some guidance in understanding why this subject merits their attention. In addition, clearly of more minor note, I would suggest separating and expanding the now combined glossary and index which, at four pages of large print, provides insufficient information for either function to be of much use.

G & P have provided a good introduction to a topic which is often given short shrift in many introductory textbooks. They have done it with care and humor. I was quite satisfied by both the scope of the content and the opportunities provided for the students to explore their own beliefs and the nature of the world around them.