Mythic Language and Gender Subversion: The Case of Ruskin's Athena

1997 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Aronofsky Weltman
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Victorian Studies ◽  
Separate Spheres ◽  
Language And Gender ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Kate Millett ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Gender Subversion

Ruskin's complex attitude toward women has long been important to feminist and Victorian studies; over a quarter-century ago Kate Millett published Sexual Politics and its famous attack on Ruskin's essay "Of Queens' Gardens." She charged Ruskin with promoting a sugar-coated but perfidious system of separate spheres for men and women. Yet shortly after Ruskin produced that idealized vision of housewife-queens in 1865, he created a new ideal queen in his mythological study The Queen of the Air (1869), this time elaborated from Athena. Through his mythopoesis, Ruskin disrupts both conventional gender categories and his own implication in them. Ruskin presents a series of binary oppositions that he immediately conflates: Athena and Medusa, air and earth, bird and snake, formation and destruction, science and myth, male and female. Ruskin documents the instability of his oppositions through a bizarre "natural language" where real-life creatures such as birds and snakes serve as eternal hieroglyphs, signifying universally recognizable abstractions. That seemingly fixed signs in Athena's hieroglyphic code inevitably change is clear from Ruskin's acknowledgment of Darwin's evolutionary theory. But evolution slips into a wild image of degenerative metamorphosis, where all the divisions that Ruskin has so laboriously noted dissolve. Since Ruskin identifies Athena with each seemingly opposed animal signifier in his language of living hieroglyphs, he subverts all linguistic difference and ultimately feminizes signification itself. Through myth Ruskin creates a mutable language, one where genders as well as signs become mobile rather than fixed.

scholarly journals Expression of Language and Gender in the Movie “Imperfect: Karier, Cinta & Timbangan” (Sociolinguistic Studies)

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
Fauziyah Kurniawati
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Language And Gender ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Language Characteristics

The dialogues used by the male and female main character in the movie "Imperfect: Karier, Cinta & Timbangan" has many different language characteristics. This research aims to elaborate the expression of language characteristics of main male and female characters in the movie based on Qi Pan's theory and define the socio-cultural factors behind using these language characteristics. This research was qualitative descriptive research. The data source was the movie’s script of "Imperfect: Karier, Cinta & Timbangan." To collect data, the researcher used watching, listening, and writing techniques. Then, the data were analyzed using the textual analysis method. The results revealed that (a) the main female character uses 11 language characteristics according to Qi Pan's theory in dialogue. In contrast, the main male character does not use these language characteristics. Only hypercorrection characteristics are not used in both speeches, and (b) language differences in characters' speeches are influenced by socio-cultural factors that shape their personalities in the movie, creating gender stereotypes that appear in both genders based on their characters. This research represents an expression and relevance between language and gender, which can be found in real life and literary works, one of which is elaborated through Indonesian movie media.

On the Semantic Content of Grammatical Gender and Its Impact on the Representation of Human Referents

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 367-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Irmen ◽  
Julia Kurovskaja
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Content ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
Gender Information ◽  
Masculine Role ◽  
Feminine Role ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Open Question

Grammatical gender has been shown to provide natural gender information about human referents. However, due to formal and conceptual differences between masculine and feminine forms, it remains an open question whether these gender categories influence the processing of person information to the same degree. Experiment 1 compared the semantic content of masculine and feminine grammatical gender by combining masculine and feminine role names with either gender congruent or incongruent referents (e.g., Dieser Lehrer [masc.]/Diese Lehrerin [fem.] ist mein Mann/meine Frau; This teacher is my husband/my wife). Participants rated sentences in terms of correctness and customariness. In Experiment 2, in addition to ratings reading times were recorded to assess processing more directly. Both experiments were run in German. Sentences with grammatically feminine role names and gender incongruent referents were rated as less correct and less customary than those with masculine forms and incongruent referents. Combining a masculine role name with an incongruent referent slowed down reading to a greater extent than combining a feminine role name with an incongruent referent. Results thus specify the differential effects of masculine and feminine grammatical gender in denoting human referents.

The Complexity of Work for Women who are HIV Positive: A Case Study in DKI Jakarta

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Andi Nur Faizah
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Hiv Positive ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
Women Living With Hiv ◽  
Hiv Positive Women ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Living With Hiv

<p>The phenomenon of HIV-AIDS transmission places women in a difficult situation. The loss of family members such as husbands due to AIDS leaves women living with HIV positive in a struggle to access sources of livelihood. The condition of themselves as PLWHA, concerns about being stigmatized, caring for family members, and earning a living are the burdens of life they have to face. In this regard, this paper explores the complexity of the work of HIV-positive women. This study uses a qualitative method with a feminist perspective to get a complete picture of the livelihood of HIV-positive women. Based on interviews with five HIV-positive women, the findings found a link between social, identity, and gender categories that affect their livelihoods. HIV-positive women also transform themselves into their “normal” self by pretending to be healthy, able to work, have quality, and be independent. This is done as a form of resistance to the stigma attached to PLWHA.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

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