Abstract
Despite recent efforts to eliminate sexist language from journal and other publications, controversy persists over whether sexist language contributes to the perpetuation of sex bias. Seventy-two female and 57 male undergraduates were exposed to three levels of sexist noun and pronoun usage in a description of “Ethical Standards of Psychologists.” All subjects then rated the attractiveness of a career in psychology for males and females, and their own willingness to refer a male or female friend to a psychologist. In several instances, ratings of career attractiveness and willingness to refer were found to vary in sex-role stereotypic directions as a function of degree of exposure to sexist language. Recent demands for nonsexist language may be supportable on the basis of a genuine relationship between sexist language and the maintenance of sex-biased perceptions.
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Briere, J., Lanktree, C. Sex-role related effects of sex bias in language. Sex Roles 9, 625–632 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290069
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00290069