The Thought Salesman

Please take the time to read (or scan through a couple of) these links:

http://www.doctorspiller.com/nursing_bottle_syndrome.htm
http://ultimateparenting.com/child_behavior_2_6.html
http://www.parenting.com/article/Mom/Health/Eating-Green-1201726268247
http://www.todaysparent.com/lifeasparent/parenting/article.jsp?content=2...
http://www.readersdigest.ca/cms/xcms/why-every-parent-should-be-on-faceb...

What do all of these articles have in common?

1. They are all directed towards parents
2. They are on the internet
3. They all offer advice
4. None are user-generated
5. They all promote sexism

Some of you may wonder what I mean by number 5. Basically this: they all use the words mom and parent interchangeably, but omit dad. This, of course, is playing on the age-old stereotype that fathers can’t be good parents, or rather, they don’t want to be.

Here’s an excerpt from the article on nursing bottle syndrome:

“…No mom does this on purpose to her child, but it is quite common because mom simply doesn't know that the sugar in the bottle can do this…”

See what they’ve done there? It is innocent enough; they’ve simply stated that no mom knowingly damages their children’s teeth. I’d say that’s a fair argument, and when Doctor Spiller wrote this article, I’m sure the good doctor had no intention to cause any harm, in fact I’d bet money that the doctor’s intention was the opposite. The problem is that although there’s nothing inherently sexist about the article, the quote, or the subject matter, Doctor Spiller has used gendered language where it is inappropriate. It is the unwitting use of language like this, the same tendency that the women’s movement has fought long and hard to abolish from our vernacular from positions such as nurses, flight attendants, police officers, doctors, and the like, that leaves individuals belonging to the genders that ‘untraditionally’ fill these rolls alienated, excluded, or underappreciated.

Nobody says policeman without backlash because it is disrespectful to the women of the police force. Likewise, nobody should use mom as a synonym for parent, as it is disrespectful to the fathers that take their role as parent very seriously.

The worst part of all of these sites isn’t necessarily that they use this gendered language, but rather that they do so without realising it. Men cook, men clean, men make children’s lunches, men stay home from work to nurse their sick children, men do the laundry, men shop for groceries, and it’s time that people start using language that reflects this.

Finding these websites took me maybe 2 minutes, I encourage you to google “parent,” I’m sure you’ll see around 4/5 of the results will be directed towards women, many of them omitting the words “dad” and “father” all together.

This may seem like nitpicking, but unfortunately the inappropriate use of gendered language is an indicator that is useful in determining cultural attitudes towards gender. I guarantee you, as long as language such as this remains the norm, true gender equality will merely be a dream.

The Thought Salesman