Stereotyping on female adjectives

標籤: 文化討論, 我愛陳列品

This essay is a discussion of the stereotyping of female adjectives and why some adjectives are stereotypes of female characteristics.

In the first section I discuss what art stereotype is and how words are being stereotyped. In the second section I analysis the article that I found from the SELF magazine by pointing out the stereotyped adjectives that are used to describe Evangeline Lilly. In the final section I express my points of view on the issue of being “beautiful” under the affect of today’s’ culture and media.

Section One
WHAT IS ART STEREOTYPE?
Stereotyping occurs when, on the basis of some members of a class having a characteristic or belonging to another class, other members are assumed to have that characteristic or belong to that other class. (Goatly 2000:55)

For example, because many women are housewives, we might assume all women are housewives. Or, because most construction workers belong to the male group, we might assume all construction workers are males.

HOW WORDS ARE BEING STEREOTYPED?
Stereotypes can be based on race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religious belief, social class, physical characteristic, cultural and historical background. In this essay, I will only focus on the stereotyping of gender.

The word gender is used to describe your sex, male or female, and the roles assigned you by society as a result of your sex. Academically, some particular adjectives are usually used to describe the gender of being male or female. We call those particular adjectives ‘stereotyped adjectives on gender’. The formation of those ‘stereotyped adjectives on gender’ can be based on facial appearances, body shapes, biological features, personalities, gender roles in the society according to the cultural and historical background.

ANY EXAMPLES?
Different ‘stereotyped adjectives’ are used to describe different genders. The two tables shown below are adjectives that are specifically used for men and women (Just for reference)

Table 1 Adjectives used with Men (in a given meaning)
1. blokeish, blokish (behaves in the way people traditionally think ordinary men behave when they
are together)2. blond (who is blonde has pale or yellow hair) (It can also be used with women)3. burly (large and strong)4. camp (behaving and dressing in a way that some people think is typical of a homosexual)5. chivalrous (behaves in a polite, kind, generous, and honourable way)6. cissy, sissy (considered not to exhibit or be characteristic of stereotypical masculinity)7. dapper (dressed in a fashionable and tidy way)8. debonair (fashionable and well dressed and behaves in an attractively confident way)9. effeminate (behaves, looks, or sounds like a woman or girl)10. effete (looking or behaving like a woman)11. galant (polite and kind towards women, especially when in public)12. handsome (attractive; good looking)13.henpecked (always being told what to do by his wife)14. hulking (very big and often awkward)15. hunky (attractive and strong-looking)16. husky (big and strong)17. impotent (unable to perform sexual intercourse)18. limp-wristed (homosexual, effeminate)19. macho (stereotypically masculine: having or showing characteristics conventionally regarded
as male)20. queer (homosexual)21. portly (rather fat = stout)22. potent (capable of sexual intercourse)23. rugged (good-looking and has strong features which are often not perfect)24. slobbish (a lazy, untidy and often rude person)25. stocky (whose body is wide across the shoulders and chest and who is short)26. suave (very polite, charming and usually attractive, often in a way that is slightly false)(It can also be used with women)27. tame (docile: habitually inclined to submit to the wishes of others) (It can also be used with women)28. urbane (confident, comfortable and polite in social situations = suave) (It can also be used with women)29. virile (full of sexual strength and energy in a way that is considered attractive)30. virtuo(u)s (behaves in a moral and correct way) (It can also be used with women)
1. Amazonian (notably tall, physically strong, or strong-willed)2. battered (hurt by being repeatedly hit)3. beautiful (referring to good looks)3. blonde (who is blonde has pale or yellow hair)(It can also be used with men)4. blowsy, blowzy (fat and looks untidy)5. bonny (attractive: pleasing to look at)6. bosomy (having large breasts)7. brassy (too loud, confident, or brightly dressed)8. braw (beautiful, especially because big and strong) (It can also be used with men)9. brazen (behaving in an immoral way without being embarrassed or ashamed)10. broody (wanting pregnancy)11. bubbly (lively and cheerful and talks a lot)12. buxom (healthy-looking and slightly fat, with large breasts)13. chesty, busty (having large breasts)14. coy (being or pretending to be shy, modest, childish or lacking in confidence)15. curvaceous (having an attractively curved body shape)16. curvy (=curvaceous)17. demure (quiet and rather shy, usually in a way that you like and find appealing, and behave
very correctly)18. distraught (extremely worried, anxious or upset)19. dowdy (wears dull or unfashionable clothes)21. elegant (very beautiful and graceful)22. expectant (pregnant)23. flat-chested (has small breasts)24. flighty (not responsible and likely to change activities, jobs, lovers, etc. frequently)25. foxy (physically attractive, sexy)26. frowsy (not very clean or tidy and smells bad)27. frumpy=frumpish (unattractive)28. girlish (behaves in a silly way)30. leggy (long-legged)31. luscious (very sexually attractive)32. lush (voluptuously sensual in appearance or behavior)33. matronly (fairly fat and no longer young, used to avoid saying this directly)34. mountainous (very large in amount or size – in a figurative sense) (It can also be used with men)35. mousy (quiet and unattractive)

Table 2 Adjectives used with Women in 90-100 per cent cases (in a given meaning)
1. Amazonian (notably tall, physically strong, or strong-willed)2. battered (hurt by being repeatedly hit)3. beautiful (referring to good looks)3. blonde (who is blonde has pale or yellow hair)(It can also be used with men)4. blowsy, blowzy (fat and looks untidy)5. bonny (attractive: pleasing to look at)6. bosomy (having large breasts)7. brassy (too loud, confident, or brightly dressed)8. braw (beautiful, especially because big and strong) (It can also be used with men)9. brazen (behaving in an immoral way without being embarrassed or ashamed)10. broody (wanting pregnancy)11. bubbly (lively and cheerful and talks a lot)12. buxom (healthy-looking and slightly fat, with large breasts)13. chesty, busty (having large breasts)14. coy (being or pretending to be shy, modest, childish or lacking in confidence)15. curvaceous (having an attractively curved body shape)16. curvy (=curvaceous)17. demure (quiet and rather shy, usually in a way that you like and find appealing, and behave very correctly)18. distraught (extremely worried, anxious or upset)19. dowdy (wears dull or unfashionable clothes)21. elegant (very beautiful and graceful)22. expectant (pregnant)23. flat-chested (has small breasts)24. flighty (not responsible and likely to change activities, jobs, lovers, etc. frequently)25. foxy (physically attractive, sexy)26. frowsy (not very clean or tidy and smells bad)27. frumpy=frumpish (unattractive)28. girlish (behaves in a silly way)30. leggy (long-legged)31. luscious (very sexually attractive)32. lush (voluptuously sensual in appearance or behavior)33. matronly (fairly fat and no longer young, used to avoid saying this directly)34. mountainous (very large in amount or size – in a figurative sense) (It can also be used with men)35. mousy (quiet and unattractive)36. mumsy (with an old-fashioned appearance, like that of a traditional mother)37. nubile (marriageable or sexually attractive)38. petite (of small and dainty build)39. plain (not beautiful)40. pneumatic (having large breasts)
41. po-faced (having an unfriendly disapproving expression on your face) (It can also be used with
men)42. pregnant (has a baby or babies developing in her body)43. pretty (pleasant to look at, or attractive or charming in a delicate way); of a boy looks attractive
in a way that is typical of a girl44. randy (sexually excited and eager to have sex) (It can also be used with men)45. ravishing (very beautiful)46 sassy (behaves in a way that is intended to be attractive to men)47. sensual (interested in or making you think of physical pleasure, especially sexual pleasure)48. sexless (frigid)49. shapely (has an attractive shape)50. sluttish (sexually promiscuous)51. svelte (thin and graceful) (It can also be used with men)52. sylphlike (attractively thin and delicate)53. sultry (makes other people feel strong sexual attraction to you)54. tarty (vulgar, gaudy; promiscuous)55. topless (not wearing any clothes on the upper part of her body, so that her breasts are bare)56. vivacious (attractively energetic and enthusiastic) (It can also be used with men)57. voluptuous (has large breasts and a soft curved body) 58. well-endowed (has large breasts)59. whorish (meaning characteristic of the behavior stereotypically ascribed to prostitutes)60. willowy (graceful and thin) (It can also be used with men)

(Source: http://www.tech-nology.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1745.html)

Referring to these two tables, we can find there are some adjectives that we frequently use in our daily life when describing males and females. For example, we use macho, chivalrous, suave or urbane to describe males’ temperament; and burly, handsome, hunky, camp or stocky to describe males physically and sexually. On the other hand, we usually use girlish, elegant, demure, coy or whorish to describe females’ temperamental; and beautiful, bosomy, foxy, leggy, pretty or luscious to describe females physically and sexually.
Section Two
ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT
I chose this article mainly because Evangeline Lilly was the second-hottest woman in America last year. This article was found in the SELF magazine published in November, 2006. In this article, Evangeline Lilly uses some adjectives to describe herself which, I think, are useful in analyzing the ‘stereotyped adjectives’ for females. The article is shown below.




The ‘stereotyped adjectives’ are analyzed in the following:

Lines 7-8
“Although her change in tax bracket has eased her financial strain, she still proudly considers herself ‘a cheap-ass lady’.

Referring to the beginning of the article, we know that Lilly is now a very wealthy person as the article reported that she is earning $80,000 per episode. According to the sentence above, she is now in the tax bracket. So, we know that Lilly is now very wealthy because only people who earn a lot of money can go into the tax bracket. In a society, wealthy people are regarded as the ‘higher-class’ people. Therefore, Lilly should be a ‘higher-class’ lady in a society. But, Lilly still considers herself as ‘a cheap-ass lady’ which means that she still considers herself as a ‘lower-class’ lady.

But why didn’t she just use ‘a lower-class lady’ instead of ‘a cheap-ass lady’.

It is because ‘cheap-ass’ is a stereotyped adjective used in America based on its culture. We can break the words ‘cheap’ and ‘ass’ into two separate words.

‘Ass’ is an American slang. It has the same meaning as bottom, bum or ‘your behind’. The word ‘ass’ is a stereotyped word referring to women in western culture as the females’ ‘asses’ arouse men’s sexual desire (except for gay men) because the sexual activities take place at that part of women’s bodies. Also, when a baby is born, it comes all the way from the mother’s belly through her vagina (which is at the same part of the body as the bottom). As we all know, only women can give birth and men cannot. Therefore, the word ‘ass’ usually makes people think of females and not males.

‘Cheap’ is the other word used to describe females, but we can also used to describe males. The word ‘cheap’ has two ambiguous meanings here. The first explanation is that ‘cheap’ is used to describe people that sell their bodies to earn money, such as, prostitutes and pimps. However, prostitutes are usually more than pimps in one society. So, the first explanation of ‘cheap’ usually refers to females. The second explanation is that ‘cheap’ is used to describe people that are not willing to spend money. Mostly, people that are not willing to spend money would be the lower-class. For this explanation, the gender it refers to can be neutral because art lower-class can both be males and females.

According to this article, it seems that ‘cheap’ refers to the second explanation rather than the first one and is used to describe a female—Lilly is not willing to spend money, even though she earns a lot of money. That is why she considers herself a ‘lower-class’ (‘cheap-ass’) lady. Also, she wanted to express that she is just as common as anybody else in society and nothing really special at all because ‘lower-class’ people are common and all around.

Lines 12-14
“A funny thing happened when Lilly went from student to sex symbol (Maxim Magazine named her the second-hottest woman in America last year.)”

Referring to the above sentence, Lilly is described as the second-hottest woman in America. The word ‘sex symbol’ also has its significance here. According to Wikipedia, “A sex symbol is a famous and/or notable person, male or female, who is found sexually attractive by the general audience.” We know that Lilly got famous because of her sexual attraction for the audience according to this article.

‘Hot’ is also an American slang. It has the same meaning as ‘sexy’. ‘Hot’ is usually used to describe females and is rarely used to describe males because sexy ladies will always make men have sexual desire and when men have sexual desire, they feel very hot. That is why sexy ladies are said to be “hot”, because they produce sexual attraction for men and make the men feel hot.

Lines 15-16
“I was being presented in a light that was way too sexy for me, and I was really uncomfortable with it and ashamed of it.”

According to the sentence above, Lilly thinks that she was described too ‘sexy’ and doesn’t like it very much. As mentioned before, she was the second-hottest woman in America last year, so, she must be very sexually attractive to people, especially men. From the pictures provided in the article, we can see that she has big breasts, a curvy body shape and a pretty appearance. These are the factors that make people think she is ‘sexy’. ‘Sexy’ is always regarded as the physical attraction but not mental attraction and that is why ‘sexy’ is usually used to describe females rather than males because most females innately have the curvy body shapes to attract men.

Lines 17-18
“Because I get so much attention for being sexual and beautiful, I try to downplay that side of myself all the time.”

From the sentence above, Lilly used two adjective to describe herself. One is ‘sexual’ and the other one is ‘beautiful’.

The adjective ‘sexual’ is very neutral because it can refer to both males and females. Both males and females can make people think of sex and arouse their sexual desires as ‘sexual’ is a physical attraction. For example, muscular or strong men can arouse women’s sexual desires and sexy or bosomy women can arouse men’s sexual desires. Therefore, the adjective ‘sexual’ is not stereotyped for males or females.

The adjective ‘beautiful’ is usually used to describe females and rarely used to describe males. ‘Beautiful’ is a facial attraction and it is always used to describe women. You rarely say that a man is very ‘beautiful’, you would use ‘handsome’ instead. So, the adjective ‘beautiful’ is stereotyped for describing females.

Lines 19-20
“And when I try not to look sexy, I just feel like a less sexual person.”

According to the sentence above, Lilly thinks that when she tries not to look ‘sexy’, she feels that she is a less ‘sexual’ person.

Just like the adjective ‘hot’, ‘sexy’ is usually used to describe females and rarely used to describe males. As mentioned before, it is a stereotyped adjective for females. In here, Lilly points out the relationship between ‘sexy’ and ‘sexual’. As she mentioned that the less ‘sexy’ she tries to be, the less ‘sexual’ she feels. So, it proves that a ‘sexy’ body (especially females’ bodies) arouses people’s ‘sexual’ desires (especially to men).

Lines 32-33
“During the first season of Lost, Lilly was determined to ‘look skinnier and less boxy’.”

From this sentence, we know that Lilly desires to look ‘skinner’ and ‘less boxy’.

In the pasted culture, women liked to possess ‘baby-fat’ or ‘health-looking’ body shapes because they thought they were beautiful looking that way. But for the culture now, women like to look ‘skinner’ because they think that they are beautiful in this way. Although the women now prefer ‘skinner’, the word ‘skinny’ is not particularly used to describe females. The adjective ‘skinny’ is quite neutral to males and females. It can also be used to describe men. So, this is not a stereotyped adjective.

As I mentioned before, women with beautiful curvy body shapes are regarded as ‘sexy’. That is why Lilly wants to look ‘less boxy’. It might be good if a man looks ‘boxy’ because that might mean that he is very muscular. But it is not good for a woman. Therefore, the adjective ‘boxy’ may be a stereotyped adjective for the description of males.

Section Three
AFTER THOUGHT
After looking through this article, I would like to express my opinions on the issue of being “good-looking”.

As mentioned in the article, Lilly determined to “look skinnier and less boxy”. So, why does Lilly want to look “skinnier”? Why not “healthier”? It is because in the today’s culture, people think “skinny” is a symbol of “good-looking”.

WHO GIVES US THIS THOUGHT?
The media “labels” and “stereotypes” what “good-looking” is. They tell us “skinny” makes us look “better”. They also point out that a lot of “sexy” and “pretty” movie stars are also “skinny”. So, that makes people think “skinny” is the way to make them look “good” subconsciously.

However, the media are not always correct. People should not believe the media all the time. Every individual is unique and they do not need to look the same as anyone else who is regarded as “good-looking”. You are “good-looking” the way you are and not because you resemble somebody else.

STAY AWAKE AND KEEP YOUR MIND OPEN

We should know that when the media tells you “skinny” make you look “good”, it is because they want to earn money from you. The media includes magazines, advertisements, televisions, etc. So, “Skinny” makes you look “good” is their selling point because people buy their products and spend money on keeping themselves “skinny” if they think they are not “skinny” enough.

Therefore, do not believe the media blindly. Stay awake and be yourself!!

(1933 words)

REFERENCES:
GOATLY, A (2000) Critical Reading and Writing Routledge: London and New York
MCNATT, E (2006) Self Magazine Condé Nast Publications: New York

WEB SOURCES:
3rd November, 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_symbol>
3rd November, 2006 <http://www.teach-nology.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1745.html>