THE PROBLEM OF GENDER IDENTITY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Gender-neutral language, also referred to as gender-sensitive language, is an umbrella term for feminist language reform efforts. Such reforms are aimed at changing the masculine, androcentric, i.e. a male-centric structure of language that, within a patriarchal society, confers social privilege on the male and makes male the social norm. A popular option to mitigate linguistic sexism and gender neutralization are feminitives – designations for women, devoid of concomitant pejorative meanings and associations. Feminism and gender issues are gaining popularity not only in global society, but also in linguistics, and more precisely in the English language. Any language partly determines how we think and how we perceive the world. But language is a complex and clumsy system that has evolved over many centuries, and changes take root in it for a long time and do not always occur naturally.
Particularly heated debate flares up when the conversation turns to the expression of gender. By gender, we mean the socially acquired characteristics of people. If sex is given by birth from nature, then gender is socially organized and socially constructed. Norms, roles, gender expectations are all culturally determined and change over time. It concerns the traditionally “female” or “male” professions in which both are employed today, the difficulties with how to address non-binary persons (people who do not clearly define themselves as male or female) and how to account for people of different genders when addressing and many other more complex issues.