The Evolution of Gender and Language

Personally, I struggled with some of the premises behind Mr.Robertson's talk. Although I agree with his general ideas behind how language establishes gender: how we are taught to use the language, and how the language treats out the gender. I disagreed with his thesis statement, "Training through conditioning from the age of three denies girls the means to speak strongly. They learn that they must contain their wills and personal identities." Although this thesis may have been more prevalent in past decades, I feel that the current generation and those upcoming are full of powerful women who hone their voices. Maybe Mr.Robertson is correct in the sense that my upbringing is different from those around me. I grew up in a household where I was always taught to voice and value my opinion. Having older brothers conditioned me (to use his words) to assert my power and dominance as a woman acting as a contrast to what his thesis presented. My conditioning did not teach me to "contain my will" as I have always been taught to be the loudest voice in the room especially if a man was trying to devalue my female identity. I would also like to believe that the majority of the women leaders in this school have a similar opinion, regardless of their upbringing; affluent or not, working mother or not, and other societal factors that seemed to have computed causation in the eyes of Mr.Robertson. Student leaders on the Governor's campus are disproportionately female. If his thesis was still intact today wouldn't we have male leaders with women shyly suggesting their opinion to their superior competitive male counterparts? Would we have Adeliza as our academy president? Would I (or my other strong female peers) be allowed to even exist in a classroom without ridicule? My last question leads to another one of Mr.Robertson's points that although did not sit well with me, yet actually seemed relevant. One of the three articles we read discussed how language was used to describe males and females in the workforce. A woman who assumed their stereotypical gender role was described as cooperative and a team-player while a woman who asserted her dominance was described in a negative light. Women, in this context, are in a catch-22. Feminists today are fighting for equal representation, particularly when it comes to more male-dominated occupations. Unfortunately, women are only awarded for submissive behavior. Submissive women do not get promoted. Assertive women do not get promoted because they are far too assertive and intimidating to their colleagues to be in a position of power. Ironically, males are seen in a positive light for the same characteristics an assertive woman shows. Although this cannot be solved overnight, I do believe there have been strides in the right direction. There is a generational difference between the woman Mr.Robertson grew up around and those now. Women now are generally not going to college or coming to a prestigious school like Governor's to find their partners and be submissive wives. Women now are getting jobs, being successful, and evidently outperforming their male counterparts. Women now are not representative of Mr.Robertson's thesis. I acknowledge that he is speaking from his experiences, but I do not find that it aligns with what I experience on a daily basis.