These are the journals that I had in my language and gender class. You might want to do a study on any of these. Just let me know of your findings by sending an email to kabadethc@yahoo.com.
Research topic 1. I never get to realize the difference in the meaning of the word “shopping” to the male gender until I got into this situation: One afternoon, a male friend called me up. After the exchanging of hellos, he mentioned that he was going to buy some pair of pants because his size now is a lot smaller than his size a year ago. So I said, “So you’re going shopping huh?” He emphasized that he just needed new pants and that he’s checking out the items for sale at Landmark. I told him how I envied him at that time because he was going shopping. After a few minutes of animated conversation over the phone, we were already about to close our conversation when I said, “O sige na mag-shopping ka na.” Then, with an irate voice, he said, “Bakit ba inuulit-ulit mo na magsa-shopping ako. Titingin lang ako kung may mabibili ako na pantalon.” So I was taken aback and apologized, saying, “Bakit masama ba ang salita na shopping? Magsa-shopping ka naman talaga, di ba? Then, we hang up the phone.
After that conversation, it dawned on me that maybe he was offended by my constantly telling him that he’s going “shopping”. And as I reflected on the incident, I came to realize that maybe the word “shopping” is generally used among the female gender. Indeed, ladies love to go shopping; actually, this has become a therapy for some. But among the male gender, perhaps the word “shopping” connotes femininity and my male friend maybe does not want to be construed as effeminate. Since there is no empirical basis on my claim, this can be an interesting topic to research in language and gender. (September 20, 2006)
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Research topic 2. “We have to write in correct grammar so that the person who will read our work understand, so that he or she will…” These are the words which I heard from one of the male students in my technical writing class. Being so much interested with the study on language and gender, I immediately asked him, “Why did you use he/she?” upon hearing him, and he readily responded that his use of he/she referred to the person in his statement because, to quote him exactly, “we do not know the gender of that person yet”. I smiled and told him, “I’m glad you are aware of that.” I have been thinking of this little incident in my class. Considering that that student belongs to a male dominated course, Civil Engineering, deep inside, I am glad that he is aware of gender equality. This incident happened Monday, September 18, 2006. Another classroom incident took place on September 26, 2006. Students were given cooperative work to perform, and it so happened that in one group there were two male and one female. After the instructions had been given, the students would sit down with their group members. The two male decided to approach the seat of the lone female group member, and eventually they both chose the female member to be their leader. As I do the retrospection on the incident, I am wondering why the two male students conceded and chose the female to lead them. What does that imply? Since I do not know much about my students yet (classes had started only last September 18) especially in terms of their mental and leadership capabilities, I would like to believe that the two males might have an idea that the female member is more intelligent and is more capable than them. Perhaps it might be their respect to the lone female member; or perhaps they would like to keep her so much so that they made her a leader.
When I was monitoring their work, I overheard one of the members say “She is the only rose among the thorns.” In this metaphorical saying, why are women compared to roses, and men to thorns? (September 27, 2006)
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Research topic 3. Not all people in my workplace are aware of gender equality after all. There were two instances which opened my eyes to this reality. Last week, I took pride in sharing the equality in terms gender and rank or status in the school where I work. However, I was surprised to know that there are two personalities there who can be considered sexist. First, in one of our meetings I was surprised to hear from our Assistant to the Executive Director the following anecdote. We were discussing something about our present class schedules in which no in-between breaks are provided and the schedules extend up to 9:00pm. However, during this 2nd term only one class is assigned during Wednesdays and Saturdays, 7:00-9:00pm, which eventually was assigned to a male teaching Associate. Consequently, this teaching Associate requested that the schedule be changed to an earlier time since he will be the only one doing the teaching that time, and that he’s “afraid of ghosts”. In order to encourage him, this is what our Assistant to the Executive Director told him: “You know what? Kaya mo yan. Lalake ka eh. Ako nga babae kaya ko; I can stay here alone. Ikaw pa lalake, mas malakas ka at mas matapang ka.” I quite didn’t agree with her words because for me she was being a sexist that time. It’s as if she considers her being a female weaker than male. She sounded like giving more admiration and honor to the male gender. There are a number of ways perhaps to encourage the teacher to do his assignment than by putting her own gender in a weaker state. Another instance took place on Friday, October 13, 2006 during the opening ceremony of our Associates’ sportsfest. For me, the emcee was very sexist! Why? Imagine using the term ‘hostess’ or ‘mistress of ceremonies’ to refer to herself. As I was listening to her I could not help but think of the reasons why she used the term. Maybe she thought that those were the politically correct terms to refer to someone who hosts the program; or maybe she was not aware of the implication of the terms that she used. Actually, it was my first time to hear ‘mistress of ceremony’ to refer to someone who hosts the event. Ahh…I have a great mission to accomplish. I must help people in my workplace become aware of the implications of the language that they use in terms of the gender that they have. (October 18, 2006)
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Research topic 4. There were two instances of language use in relation to gender I observed from two different TV shows. The first one was observed in one of the episodes of the noontime show, “Eat Bulaga”. In there, contestants were made to answer general knowledge questions in order to win cash prize. During that time, the show was giving honor to the midwives, thus all of the questions were about midwifery and giving birth. Only one of the contestants was left, and she could win the jackpot prize of PhP100,000 plus other freebies if she could give the right answer to the question, which ran this way: “Ano ang tawag sa lalaki na nagpa-pratice ng midwifery”. Instantly, the contestant blurted out the word ‘comadrono’, but later recalled her answer and changed it to ‘midwife’. Consequently, she won the jackpot prize! As I was watching the show, the word ‘comadrono’ struck me and made me think if indeed it’s ‘comadrono’. I haven’t heard such a word to refer to a male midwife. Good thing the contestant changed her answer to ‘midwife’ because the hosts confirmed that there is no such a term as ‘comadrono’. Thus, if there is no such term used to refer a male who helps a mother in giving birth, then what is the Tagalog term to refer to it? Does that mean that the local term ‘comadrona’ refers to both male and female? If that is the case, then my professor is right in saying that Tagalog is a non-sexist language! The next instance was observed during the TV show “Pinoy Pop Superstar.” Towards the end of the show, judges were asked about their comments towards the contestants. Without much thought, Jaya, one of the judges, considered of the contestants as ‘male divo’. She even qualified her use of that term by saying that if there’s female diva, there should also be ‘male divo’. Is there really such a term as divo? Or is it just a derivative of ‘diva’? (October 25, 2006)
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Research topic 5. One weekend, I sat down with my niece to watch the Disney channel original movie “High School Musical”. At first I wasn’t interested at all because it was kids’ stuff. However after watching it, I realized that I was wrong; that it wasn’t just for kids and that I could use it for my journal entry number 6. Generally, the film depicts gender equality — that one could be what he wants to be regardless of his or her gender. For instance, the main character, Troy, was stereotyped by his coach-dad and his male classmates to be the ‘basketball guy’. But within him, he wanted to sing in the high school musical. When his teammates got to know of this, they simply cannot accept that a basketball superstar like him would be singing and dancing on stage. It simply cannot be accepted! However, Troy went on with his heart’s desire and so his other teammates followed suit. One revealed that he could bake; one could play the cello, and so on. In contrast, girls can also do stuff which are stereotypically boys’. For instance, one fat girl blurted out that she is not just intelligent, but she actually can dance hip hop. Another girl, who is good in playing the piano, can play basketball, too and so on. While watching the film, I decided that this is what I’m going to have for my journal for a number of reasons. First, I like the way in which the gender roles were presented. In the film, there is no such a thing as gender stereotypical. Second, I like it because it is in the film and is very popular among children today. I am pretty sure this film is an effective carrier of the message — gender equality — to the minds of the young. Though it was not directly stated, I am convinced that the children will one day get the message in contrast to the gender polarization they see in their textbooks as well as in other movies. Third, linguistic patterns can easily be studied in the film because the transcript is flashed on the screen. I guess that was meant for those who would like to duplicate the production in their own schools or communities. I wanted to include the linguistic pattern found in the script, but that would be another story or another research paper to make. (November 8, 2006)
If you are interested in linguistics and langauge study, you may inquire at the Department of English and Applied Linguistics, De La Salle University-Manila. You may also visit www.dlsu.edu.ph
