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Evaluation by females and males of speeches worded in the masculine, feminine, or genderinclusive reference form
Author(s) -
Ng Sik Hung
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.712
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1473-4192
pISSN - 0802-6106
DOI - 10.1111/j.1473-4192.1991.tb00015.x
Subject(s) - psychology , girl , downgrade , developmental psychology , androgyny , gender role , social psychology , masculinity , psychoanalysis , computer security , computer science
A random sample of female and male students ( n = 408) representing three age groups (11, 14, and 17 years) evaluated speeches that were worded using either the masculine ( boy, he, his ), feminine ( girl, she, her ), or gender‐inclusive ( boy/girl, she/he, her/his ) forms of person reference. Significant interaction effects were found between forms of reference on the one hand, and subjects’gender and age on the other hand. The main features of the results were that (1) at age 11, both females and males upgraded the masculine over the feminine reference form; (2) at age 14 and 17, female subjects upgraded, whereas male subjects continued to downgrade, the feminine relative to the masculine form; and (3) the gender‐inclusive form was evaluated most positively, or at least as positively as the gender‐specific forms. These features were interpreted as reflecting subjects’gender identification triggered by the particular reference form.