disc sex lang 1079 h stephen straight writes focus epicene pronoun doubles masculine pronoun generic noun e g man doubles masculine form sometimes let logic theory markedness overwhelm psychology evidence believe strongly supports claim even clearly nonspecific contexts items trigger masculine prototypes receivers agree generally present state standard english triggering important degree mind historical beholder right psychology part disagree unspecified universal implications perhaps better overwhelm semantics people except gender separatists would particularly untriggered masculine reference words sportsmanship penmanship liked construction one first lady publicist said best salesman man differing semantic domains time middle english fair wife two men made garden etc modern mind constructions trigger male associations might make necessary study historical change middle english work pronouns contexts found proverbial use sometimesplural verbs weight proverbial related morpholgically feminine masculine radical idea wish someone would challenge also masculine also neuter neither one understand modern paradigm study history grew including protogermanic ie paradigms wonder h stephen straight read comments quotations mark recent discussion us men women alike described capacities generic people nt mean society one veiw halfglass sees generic people desire give females preferential treatment distinct words us female women parallel words males lacking tautonyms us male relegated use word also used everybody else masculine sexdistinct contrastive position feminine reason generic pronouns doubling masculine men psychology thought frequently generic people females long accorded special priviledges western society nt execute murderesses create conditions us women live 10 longer men exclude military draft old women commit suicide rate less 1 12th old men etc say everybody nt rough men externalize victimization metaphorical daddy personally think women go afforded special status privileges language society turning wine venom passed decades shown dark side society writer says every one members boys girls club loves parents cultures world provide ample testimony extent man capacity adapt different environments matter situations logically embrace sexes genders damage done logic intuitive sort based boolean identity operations human mind logic rulebase configuration gender case number modern pronoun paradigm use word logic many us discuss language mark use everyone wonder linguistic timidity holds others us back damage mean exclusion semantic space writer continues yucatec maya way grammatical gender best knowledge exhibits morphological semantic tendency toward treating either sex unmarked member pair h stephen straight anthro ling lgs across curric binghamton u suny box 6000 binghamton ny 139026000 tel 607777 2824 fax 607777 2889 seems counter idea says universal male cultural dominance seen male dominance language constructions alexis manaster ramer postules slightly qualified form sure would nice examples pro con around world lydie meunier writes question raised answer alexis manaster ramer writes boils maintain makes sense whatever discuss origin epicene phenomenon context story english prescriptive grammar context way perceptions sex roles informed structure language institution perceptions sex roles informed us structure language structure language enlighten us socially acquired yet still subconscious sexist behavior today homo sapiens lydie e meunier department languages university tulsa tel 918 631 2813 lang _ lem centum utulsa edu fax 918 744 1902 contructivist view sexuality widely held academia view hauteur religious tenet wellreasoned position endures opposite cant really proved proofevidence ever seen consists embarrasingly poor analogies animal behavior good evidence post sometime soon interesting things support side jane goodall say sex roles chimps constructivist view sexuality goes back 1960s kate millet chapter 2 famous book us differentially sexed like millet later affirmed became preoccupied still passive active sexrelated roles constructivist view spoilerview assault traditional morality