Abstract:Language plays an important role in society. As a phenomenon of society, language reflects all the sides of human society naturally. Sexism is a phenomenon that takes a male-as-norm attitude, trivializing, insulting or rendering women invisible. As a special social phenomenon, sexism is inevitably reflected through language.
Many experts such as Robin Lakoff, Alleen Nilson, Bobbye Sorrels and so on have already focused their attention on sexism in English before after the discovery of linguistic asymmetry, and they have contributed a lot in this field.
The thesis gives a short but clear definition of sexism in English and traces the reasons for the occurrence of sexism in the English language. In nature, sexism in language reflects sexism in society. The two are closely related. Social connotations of sexism in English tell the relationship between phenomenon of sexism in language and essence of sexism in society. The thesis analyses sexism in terms of the overwhelming use of masculine words, semantic derogation of women, the dependency of feminine languages on masculine languages, sexism in naming, sexism in appellation and word order in greater detail. It puts forward two solutions to resolve sexism in English and concludes that sexism gradually disappears with the development of the women’s Liberation Movement.
Key words: sexism; English language; masculine words; women
摘要:性别歧视作为一种社会现象是指社会对妇女的偏见或歧视。语言与社会相依相存并反映着人类社会的各种观念。性别差异不仅反映在社会的其他方面．而且也反映在语言和语言的使用上。由于作为交流工具的语言与社会、文化和思维密不可分，所以性别歧视也必然体现在语言的使用之中。在某些社会中，由于男女地位的不平等，描写男性的用语和描写女性的用语反映出了对男性的赞美和对女性的歧视，因为作为语言基本要素的词汇本身含有性别歧视的成分。这种现象被称之为语言性别歧视。妇女地位在不断提高的同时，人们并没有根本清除语言中的对妇女的歧视，这种歧视现象在英语中体现得淋漓尽致。
语言性别歧视主要表现在对男性语言的泛化，词语的隐含意义中，女性语言对男性语言的依赖，命名法，称谓语以及词汇的排序中。
造成英语中性别歧视的原因有很多，但是归根结底有三方面的原因：低下的社会地位和有限的权利，文化意识的影响，社会心里的影响。
英语中的性别歧视虽然依然存在，但是随着上个世纪七十年代妇女解放运动的兴起，英语中的性别歧视现象得到了一定的改观。许多权威专家也坚信，随着妇女地位的进一步提高，英语中的性别歧视也将最终被根除。
关键词：性别歧视；英语；妇女；男性语言
