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For Monday, Oct. 21: Gendered Language in the Media


Does the media use different language when reporting on women and their actions, compared to the words used to describe men? Do pronouns really matter? What impact does gendered language have when reporting on the LGBTQ+ community, or when a source is nonbinary? Today we’ll take a look at gendered language, what it means in terms of unconscious bias, and how that informs -- or undermines -- our reporting.

Required Reading/Viewing:

“From Mouth to Mind: How Language Governs our Perceptions of Gender” by Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine
“It’s Time for ‘They’” by Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times
“Guys, Can We Stop Calling Everyone ‘Guys’ Already?” by Julianne Ross, Mic
“7 Ways to Make Your World More Transgender and Nonbianary Inclusive” by Lily Wasserman, The Odyssey Online
“The Finkbeiner Test” by Curtis Brainard, Columbia Journalism Review
“What I’m Not Going to Do” by Ann Finkbeiner, The Last Word on Nothing
“The Uproar Over Taking ‘Man’ Out of ‘Manhole’” by Shannon Dea, The Conversation

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