''Man Made Language'' (1980) is a book by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

writer

Dale Spender Dale Spender (born 22 September 1943)''The Bibliography of Australian Literature: P–Z'' edited by John Arnold, John Hay (page 409). is an Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant. In 1983, Dale Spender was co-founder of an ...

. In it she examines numerous areas of

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

as it appears in nature and in the use of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

, with particular focus on the way men and women talk and listen differently in couples and in mixed or single sex groups; how men have historically constructed the language; how the word ''

man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

'' is used to refer to both men and the

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

; how

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

is always seen as male; and how intercourse is described as "penetrative" sex when penetration is something that only the man does. On the last point, Spender suggests the use of "engulfing/surrounding" sex as an alternative description of

coitus Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal penetr ...

from the woman's point of view. In an editorial review published on

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

, Jesse Larsen writes, "Dale Spender presents a compelling and practical analysis of the

androcentric Androcentrism (Ancient Greek, ἀνήρ, "man, male") is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing a masculine point of view at the center of one's world view, culture, and history, thereby culturally marginalizing femininity. The related a ...

construction of the English language: its

social context The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...

, vocabulary, syntax, history, and usage."Reviews, ''Man-Made Language'
Amazon.com

References

External links

{{fem-book-stub 1980 non-fiction books Feminist books