genderspeak

English edit

Etymology edit

gender +‎ -speak

Noun edit

genderspeak (uncountable)

(chiefly derogatory) Gender-neutral language or communication.
- 1994, Mark Turnham Elvins, Towards a People's Liturgy: The Importance of Language‎^[1], page 56:
  'Man' when used of the human race is the primary use, which the Shorter Oxford Dictionary still upholds, and so what we are seeing is not a change of inclusive language so much as a kind of 'genderspeak'.
- 1996, Utne Reader, November-December 1996, page 96:
  The result is a slightly odd hybrid of '90s genderspeak and the cornball phrasing in Preston Sturges movies. One of my favorite passages, on sex in sobriety, substitutes human beings for man and now reads: […]
- 2005, Bendrix Bailey, The Chief No Officer: Confessions of an Unconventional Entrepreneur, unnumbered page:
  I've also strayed from the politically correct in many ways, not the least of which is genderspeak. I use he, him, his and so on throughout the book (unless I am writing about a woman), […]
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:genderspeak.
Gendered language or communication.
- 1993, B. Eugene Griessman, Diversity: Challenges and Opportunities‎^[2], page 44:
  Eliminate genderspeak from job titles and terminology. Replace salesman and mailman with sales representative and mail carrier.
- 2014, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Women in Game of Thrones: Power, Conformity and Resistance‎^[3], page 123:
  While she [Olenna Tyrell] directly ridicules authority figures like Varys and Tyrion, and stands up for her goals, she also uses pacifying genderspeak as Daenerys does. She comforts a terrified Sansa by telling her they're just a group of a women chatting.
- 2011, James Penner, Pinks, Pansies, and Punks: The Rhetoric of Masculinity in American Literary Culture‎^[4], page 91:
  If 1948 was a watershed year for the visibility of homosexuality in American culture, 1949 can be read as the beginning of the backlash against soft masculinity and the "doughfaces" in government. In the genderspeak of the Cold War, the biggest doughface of them all was Alger Hiss.
The communication style and/or speech pattern associated with a particular gender.
- 1997, Marry Guffey, Essentials of Business Communication‎^[5], page 40:
  Mary Crawford psychology professor at the University of South Carolina and an authority in the field of "genderspeak," complains that Tannen has not thoroughly analyzed the power issues involved in speech.
- 1998, Loretta LaRoche, Relax--You May Have Only a Few Minutes Left: Using the Power of Humor to Overcome Stress in Your Life and Work‎^[6], page 143:
  I think it's time we all lightened up and realized that we can't control each other's behaviors or alter each other's personalities by dissecting every little thing with genderspeak. Indeed, we should read, investigate, and educate ourselves to understand our differences. But you have to agree that if you did everything many of these books told you to do, you would have a 24-hour job. You'd end up too tired for a relationship.
- 2002, Deborah Tannen, I Only Say This Because I Love You: Talking to Your Parents, Partner, Sibs, and Kids When You're All Adults‎^[7], page 136:
  Genderspeak creates confusion between parents and children of the opposite sex just as surely as it does between parents themselves. For mothers, having sons can be a mystery, just as having daughters can be a mystery for fathers.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:genderspeak.

Synonyms edit

(communication style/speech pattern associated with a gender): genderlect