Academic literature on the topic 'Masculine neutrality'

AbstractMaterials experience in design involves the meanings that materials convey to users through its expressive characteristics. Such meaning evoking patterns are influenced by parameters such as context, product (e.g.shape) and user. Consequently, there is a need to standardise experiential material characterisation and large-scale data collection, by means of a meaning-less or ‘neutral’ demonstrator to objectively compare materials.This paper explores the conception of this neutrality and proposes two opposing strategies: neutrality through complexity or through simplicity. In a pre-study with 20 designers, six associative pairs are selected as neutrality criteria, and shaped in 240 forms by 20 (non) designers in a main workshop. Following the simplicity strategy, these forms are averaged out in three steps by a team of five designers, based on a consensus on of delicate-rugged, aggressive-calm, futuristic-calm, masculine-feminine, traditional-modern, and toylike-professional, resulting in a selection of four averaged neutral forms.Finally, future research will focus on complexity to increase interactivity, so that consumers might be triggered in extensive material exploration.

Health care professionals’ (HCPs) notions about gender may influence the provision and quality of care. If care-seeking men are met by HCPs holding idealized and stereotypical notions of masculinity, this could reinforce barriers to adequate care. This study explored notions about men and masculinities among HCPs working with men’s sexual health in Sweden. Focus group interviews with 35 HCPs from primary health and sexual health clinics were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in three descriptive themes: (a) Contradictory masculinity—elusive but clear. Notions of masculinity as a phenomenon or concept were elusive, but masculine and un-masculine traits, behaviors, and qualities were clear. (b) Sexual health care is a social place where men and masculinities can be challenging. Male patients were associated with unwanted sexual tensions. Masculinity could challenge professionality. Seeking sexual health care was perceived as doing un-masculinity. (c) Regarding masculinity as irrelevant—a difficult ambition to achieve. Participants strived for gender-neutrality by regarding patients as humans, individuals, or patients rather than as men and masculine. The analysis also identified a theme of meaning: Notions of masculinity are situated relationally. HCPs situate masculinity in real and hypothetical relationships. Romantic and sexual preferences were used to define preferred masculinity. This study identified themes that showed how HCPs balanced professional and private notions of men and masculinity in their patient encounters. Increased gender awareness and training are needed to professionalize the management of gendered notions in encounters with men who seek care for sexual health problems.

“Zhongxing,” meaning “gender neutrality” in Mandarin Chinese, is the term typically used to describe young women who adopt masculine gender expressions affected by popular Japanese and Korean beautiful-boy styles and who assume a collective and prevalent presence in public space and popular culture in contemporary Taiwan. I examine how this cultural phenomenon evinces multilayered transnational convergence of globalizing western feminist and queer politics, commodified regional flow of Korean beautiful-boy image, and local Taiwanese T-Po lesbian subcultures in the process of Taiwan’s modern and international nation building. I also indicate the gender-specific consequences of cultural transnationalization on queer sexuality formation by elucidating how the rise of the zhongxing phenomenon mainstreams the unique form of female masculinity as a chic, politically progressive, and semi-normative gender performance for young women and represents lesbian visibility as a practice of insinuated signification rather than straightforward confession. Finally, I demonstrate how Taiwanese lesbians take advantage of the zhongxing discourse to conceive of a masculine inclination congruent with their female body and identification and to satisfy conflicting desires for queer visibility and social integration, revealing the subtle relations between normative constraints and the exercise of queer agency in a transnational cultural context.

This article is devoted to the problem of feminization of masculine nouns in French and Russian, which is important for achieving gender neutrality, i.e. equality of masculine and feminine words. The relevance of this problem lies in the fact that ambiguous ideas are quite often put into practice through words that are not familiar to our ears. Some examples in Russian are such words as «блогерка» (a female blogger), «авторка» (a female author), «профессорка» (a female professor), and others. And in French, la préfète, la magistrate, la députée and others. The authors of the article touch upon the issue of linguistic political correctness in relation to discriminated communities, or those considered discriminated: women, people of non-traditional sexual orientation, national, racial and religious minorities. There is also much discussion nowadays about people with disabilities The best example of how to erase the boundaries between the sexes in the Russian language is the word comrade. The work draws attention to the fact that the feminist community is not unanimous, since not everyone is in favor of feminitives. On the one hand, there is a group of radical feminists, and on the other, their opponents, who are definitely against innovations. In addition, we should not forget the majority of native speakers who speak at their convenience. The results of the study lead to the conclusion that if feminitives are regularly used, especially in the media and social networks, the society can get used to them very quickly. In other words, feminitives can penetrate the language if our life changes.

With the increasing attempts to use gender-fair language, different studies have investigated this issue from different viewpoints. To find an epicene pronoun used as a third-person singular, some research has been conducted investigating them in various contexts, yet few studies have focused on cultural differences. Since how to use language differs among cultures, this study aims to investigate and compare the use of epicene pronouns (he, she, he/she, and singular they) among Iranian and Polish Non-Native Speakers (NNSs) of English with different cultures, social backgrounds, and L1s (in terms of gender markedness; Iran with a genderless-grammar language, and Poland with a grammatical-gender language). A survey containing sentences and questions was given to 64 university learners in 4 contexts (indefinite noun, feminine, masculine, and neutral connotations) to choose the most suitable pronouns while exploring the reasons for choices followed by the source of learning. The results revealed that singular they was the highest deployed pronoun in all four contexts, with no significant difference between Iranian and Polish learners. Furthermore, gender neutrality was mentioned most as the main reason for their selection of choices. Finally, roughly half the Polish students and about a third of Iranian participants had already heard about singular they, with private institutions and schools were respectively mentioned as their main sources of this knowledge.

When feminists interrogate the symbolic realm of religion, they often expose much of theological discourse as an idealized projection of a masculine subjectivity. In response to androcentric theological discourse, some feminists’ approaches have reframed religion in support of feminine subjectivity. For example, Luce Irigaray experienced an important, constructive turn to religion in her writings in the 1980s and 1990s following her early criticism of phallogocentric Western philosophy. She argued provocatively:Monotheistic religions speak to us of God the Father and God made man; nothing is said of a God the Mother or of God made Woman, or even of God as a couple or couples. Not all the transcendental fancies, or ecstasies of every type, not all the quibbling over maternity and the neutrality (neuterness) of God, can succeed in erasing this one reality that determines identities, rights, symbols, and discourse.Elsewhere, she contends: “as long as woman lacks a divine made in her image she cannot establish her subjectivity or achieve a goal of her own. She lacks an ideal that would be her goal or path in becoming.” For Irigaray, “to become divine” means to become a subject, as opposed to being a term that defines the other. Fertility, motherhood, and female genealogies are central to Irigaray's divine woman as a way to establish female subjectivity.

Abstract Today, word embeddings have become a standard method in natural language processing, largely due to the availability of large language corpora. The models effectively reflect the semantic relationships between words without any additional linguistic input. Recently, more emphasis has been placed on interpreting the seemingly discriminatory results of some queries, with the goal of de-biasing language models. However, if we consider the vector space to be a reasonably valid model of a linguistic semantic space, does not the asymmetry and subsequent discrimination in word embeddings reflect the (average) discriminatory tendencies inherent in the language? This article explores word embedding models for the Visegrád group languages and we apply basic vector arithmetic to demonstrate the basic language asymmetry present in the models. It is well known that in English models, vector transfers result in eerily accurate predictions when swapping genders (the famous king – man + woman = queen), but these transfers also result in rather uncomplimentary roles for certain occupations (doctor – man + woman = nurse, or computer programmer – man + woman = homemaker). The article explores similar transfers in models of V4 languages – Slovak, Czech, Polish, and Hungarian. With Hungarian gender neutrality, Polish strong generic masculine, and close parallels between Slovak and Czech, we hope to uncover interesting similarities and differences in gender asymmetry in these languages, based on real language data.

The research provided a descriptive analysis of six articles published by Magdalene, an Indonesian publication that resonated with feminists, pluralists, and progressive voices, to identify the subtle tactics men used to silence women. The idea of neutrality in language endured a long-standing debate between scholars in the communication field. In the perspective of feminist thinkers, language served a function of sexual division, placing men in domination and women in oppression. Women were constrained by a social system governed and communicated through a language that did not represent their experience and perspective. Men’s language denied and negated women’s authenticity. Women were only authentic when their voice was narrated by the language unfamiliar to the scream of their anguish and struggles. The language was not only a medium of expression but also a method of silence. In order to resist oppression, one must be critical of the technique men use in silencing women. Using silence methods from Muted Group Theory provided by Cheris Kramare, the research finds that silence dominantly occurs in the form of violence. The overlap of silence methods is mostly followed by censorship towards women. In one case of sexual harassment towards a female university student, the educational institution is considered the embodiment of patriarchal social construction for coercing silence to victims and doubling its function as sources of knowledge and sexual harassment perpetrators. Lastly, another finding suggests that men who strongly associate with feminist traits and whose sexual identification is against the dominant masculine norm are also disempowered.

The advent of the twentieth and the twenty first century has seen languages embrace gender neutrality consciously and these changes in languages have contributed to gender equality. In this regard, the power of languages cannot be ignored in shaping people’s social constructions and their roles in societies. Studies have indicated that languages have the power to create and enforce gender determinism and the marginalisation of the feminine gender. Currently, both English and French have embraced inclusivity, whereby there is a deliberate attempt to move away from the use of the masculine as the default form for nouns, to the use of gender-neutral words. This may not be the case for many other languages of the world. That is why this article investigated the use of prejudiced language in Ekegusii paying particular attention to proverbs or wise sayings. Specifically, the article investigated the gender inferences, the roles and the stereotypical constructions in the proverbs or the wise sayings. It also investigated the effect of these gender inferences on the users’ perceptions in constructing their identities as men or women. The Social Constructionism Theory guided the analysis while a descriptive field linguistic design was used. Judgemental sampling was then used to sample proverbs from the Ekegusii dictionary and thereafter analysed them to determine the gender inferences, the roles, and the perceived gender constructions. The findings revealed that the figurative language used in these proverbs had underlying gendered prejudiced language that perpetuates historical patriarchal hierarchy that denotes men as norm. Further, the gendered prejudiced language outlines roles that influence members of the society to conform to specific societal expectations in line with their gender therefore forming stereotypes. Proverbs or wise sayings mirror essentially, a culture of a given people. Their continued use indicates one’s prowess in a given language and it is deemed prestigious. Therefore, it is hoped that the findings herein will awaken the users on the gendered ideologies in some of the proverbs so that even as they use them, they may conform to the modern trends of gender-neutral language.

This paper presents empirical evidence to illustrate how one Australian university complies with the nation's federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) regulatory framework. The aim of this paper is to provide insight into the extent to which organizational practices deviate from articulated policy and how this gap impacts on the perceived career trajectories of female academics. While the disadvantaged status of female academics has been recognized worldwide, a deeper examination of how employees experience the policies and practices designed to support their advancement is required, especially in light of the increasing corporate-like activities of Australian universities which have deprioritized EEO. A case study of an Australian university is used to explore these phenomena. Documentary evidence of its EEO policies was compared with interviewee narratives of employees, including both female academics and members of general staff involved in policy development. This allowed female employees to be heard, in particular where they sensed contradictions between espoused company policy and their real experiences. Hearing what they have to say is an important contribution, given that Australia's EEO regulatory framework allows organizations to waive reporting on their gender equity “chievements.”This case study highlights employee concerns about the efficacy of the University's policies and practices designed to support women's career trajectories and demonstrates that, particularly in light of the increasing corporatization of the University, some women questioned whether drawing support from such policies would harm their careers. The most signifi cant concern focused on the criteria for promotion, which interviewees perceived to be based on a masculine model of merit, in contrast to the ostensible gender-neutrality of the promotions policies. A related concern was how carer responsibilities impacted on opportunities for advancement, particularly the ability to engage in research work that was prized more highly than teaching activities by promotions committees. These examples illustrate that, while the University may be upholding the law at face-value, the actual experiences of women in the organization suggest that EEO compliance is merely skin-deep.

Cette thèse interroge la persistance d'un malaise professionnel, symptôme d'un « plafond de verre symbolique », au-delà du « plafond de verre » (hiérarchique), à travers les visions du monde de femmes cadres supérieures et dirigeantes. Par le biais du découplage potentiel entre les vécus hétéronomes de ces femmes et les pratiques managériales des trois entreprises observées, ce travail analyse également les raisons latentes de cette persistance, ainsi que la manière dont la protestation ou l'adaptation à ces situations de malaise, vécues par ces femmes, peuvent se manifester au sein des institutions. Trois hypothèses guident l'explication : vécu corporel, dimension culturelle et auto-plafonnement (autolimitation). Mobilisant une démarche phénoménologique, parfois avec des traits s'apparentant à une démarche praxéologique, cette recherche combine plusieurs types de matériaux et d'approches théoriques nourris par différentes disciplines. Les résultats montrent que, nonobstant l'enthousiasme égalitaire mis en avant par les entreprises analysées, elles semblent davantage préposées à améliorer leur image publique qu'à apporter des changements substantiels. La structure n'a pas véritablement changé malgré ce « maquillage politique » : ce sont les femmes qui se sont adaptées, en adhérant à la mobilisation de leur subjectivité et en acceptant de se conformer à la « neutralité masculine ». Si elles se sont appropriées hiérarchiquement du pouvoir, elles continuent cependant symboliquement à le subir, à travers notamment un processus d' « empowerment par procuration ». Alimentée par divers facteurs, la persistance d'un malaise professionnel bride les femmes cadres supérieures et dirigeantes dans une double contingence : à la fois capitaliste « cage d'acier » et patriarcale « corset invisible ». Dans cette situation professionnelle, pétrie de contraintes, de « shaming patriarcal » et d'autorisations de comportements sexistes accordées par la structure via un « pass misogyne », ces femmes se retrouvent coincées dans un mode de vie solidement établi, qu'elles ont consciemment créé et qui est conforme à la raison instrumentale qu'elles ont désirée. Elles n'ont pas d'autres possibilités que de s'adapter, en ayant recours à un « gender patchworking identitaire ». Quatre visions du monde découlent de cette adaptation : Caméléon, Ladyboss, Olympe et Cosette
This thesis examines the persistence of a professional malaise, symptomatic of a "symbolic glass ceiling", over and above the (hierarchical) "glass ceiling", through the worldviews of female senior managers and executives. Through the potential decoupling between the heteronomous experiences of these women and the managerial practices of the three companies observed, this work also analyses the latent reasons for this persistence, as well as the way in which protest against or adaptation to these situations of malaise, experienced by these women, may manifest themselves within the institutions. This thesis examins three hypotheses: bodily experience, cultural dimension, and self-ceiling (self-restraint). Using a phenomenological approach, sometimes with features resembling a praxeological approach, this research combines several types of material and theoretical approaches cultivated by different disciplines. Notwithstanding the egalitarian enthusiasm put forward by the companies analysed, the results show that the companies seem to focus more on improving their public image than to bring about substantial change. The structure has not really changed "political make-up". In fact, it is the women who have adapted, by adhering to the mobilisation of their subjectivity and accepting a mould of "masculine neutrality". Hierarchically they have appropriated power, but symbolically they continue to be subjected to these standards, notably through a process of "empowerment by proxy". Fuelled by a variety of factors, the persistence of a professional malaise traps female senior managers and executives in a double contingency; a capitalist "steel cage" and a patriarchal "invisible corset". In this professional situation, full of constraints and 'patriarchal shaming' as well as authorisations for sexist behaviour, granted by a "misogynist pass", these women find themselves trapped in a firmly established lifestyle, which they have consciously created, and which conforms to the instrumental reason they so desired. They have no choice but to conform, by resorting to "gender patchworking identity". Four worldviews emerge from this adaptation: Caméléon, Ladyboss, Olympe and Cosette
Questa tesi di dottorato esamina la persistenza di un malessere professionale, sintomatico di un "soffitto di vetro simbolico", al di là del "soffitto di vetro" (gerarchico), attraverso le visioni del mondo delle donne senior manager e dirigenti. Attraverso il potenziale disaccoppiamento tra le esperienze eteronome di queste donne e le pratiche manageriali delle tre aziende osservate, questo lavoro analizza anche le ragioni latenti di questa persistenza, nonché il modo in cui la protesta o l'adattamento a queste situazioni di malessere, vissute da queste donne, possono manifestarsi all'interno delle aziende. Tre ipotesi guidano la spiegazione: l'esperienza corporea, la dimensione culturale e l'autosoffitto (l'auto-limitazione). I risultati mostrano che, nonostante l'entusiasmo egualitario introdotto dalle aziende analizzate, questo sembra servire più a migliorare la loro immagine pubblica che a produrre un cambiamento sostanziale. La struttura non ha realmente cambiato "trucco politico", sono le donne che si sono adattate aderendo alla mobilitazione della loro e accettando uno stampo di "neutralità maschile". Si sono appropriate del potere gerarchico, ma simbolicamente continuano a subirlo, attraverso un processo di "empowerment per procura". Alimentata da una serie di fattori, la persistenza di un malessere professionale intrappola le donne dirigenti e manager in una doppia contingenza: la "gabbia d'acciaio" capitalista e il "corsetto invisibile" patriarcale in questa situazione professionale, piena di vincoli e di "shaming patriarcale" e di autorizzazioni a comportamenti sessisti, concessi dalla struttura attraverso un "pass misogino", queste donne si trovano intrappolate in uno stile di vita saldamente stabilito, che hanno consapevolmente creato e che si conforma alla ragione strumentale che hanno desiderato, non hanno altra scelta che adattarsi, ricorrendo al "gender patchworking d'identità". Da questo adattamento emergono quattro visioni del mondo: Caméléon, Ladyboss, Olympe e Cosette

Abstract When Feminists have challenged the proclaimed gender neutrality of “malestream” political thought, they have frequently lighted on the abstract individualism of supposedly ungendered citizens as a target for their critique. In Zillah Eisenstein’s The Female Body and The Law, this provides the starting point for a new theory of equality that no longer relies on us being treated the same; in Carole Pateman’s The Sexual Contract it underpins a critique of contractual models as necessarily premised on a masculine notion of the body as separable from the self; in Susan Moller Okin’s justice, Gender and the Family it is developed into a vision of a genderless society as the precondition for fully just relations. My concern here is with the further implications for democracy, and more specifically, with the arguments that subsequently open up over group identities and group representation. The feminist challenge to the abstract, degendered individual has combined with the earlier critique of those who took class as the only or only interesting social divide, to usher in a new politics based around heterogeneity and difference.

Abstract Male and female sexuality are subservient to distinct brain controls, although they also share many influences. The primordial plan for both female and male fetuses, in mammals but not in birds, is initially feminine. Some have called this the “default” plan, since masculinization results from the organizational effects of fetal testosterone, which, in humans, occur during the second trimester of pregnancy. Others would call it the “without fault” plan, since the female brain coordinates the use of both cerebral hemispheres more effectively than does the male brain. Contrary to some creation myths, in mammals maleness arises from femaleness, rather than the other way around. If all biochemical events go according to the masculinization plan during this phase of gender specialization, the initially feminine brain is masculinized in utero by the timed secretion of testosterone and its conversion to the active organizational hormone, estrogen. The developing female brain is protected by prophylactic molecules, such as alpha-fetoprotein, which neutralize the effects of maternal estrogens that would otherwise tend to masculinize the brain. To be masculinized means that certain areas of the brain, especially specific nuclear groups in the anterior hypothalamus, grow larger in males than in females, while other areas remain smaller, such as the corpus callosum, which connects the two cerebral hemispheres. These brain organizational effects of early hormone secretions go a long way toward explaining some homosexual tendencies, for the hormones that ultimately trigger the organization of the male brain (testosterone aromatized to estrogen) are distinct from those that trigger the organization of the male body (testosterone converted to dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, by 5a-reductase). Due to this branching of control factors for brain and body organization, it is quite possible for a male-type body to contain a female-type brain, and for a female-type body to contain a male-type brain. It has been repeatedly shown in animal models that maternal stress can hinder the normal process of brain masculinization by desynchronizing the underlying physiological processes: If neonatal testosterone is secreted too early, before receptors are available to receive the message, normal masculinization does not occur. Maternal stress also impairs aromatase activity, which retards conversion of testosterone to estrogen. These different gender potentials in the brain, laid down during fetal development, are activated by the maturation of gonadal steroid synthesis during puberty. It is also known that male and female sexual urges emerge from different neural systems.