O masculino e o feminino como estratégias linguísticas do discurso

Abstract

Most of us must remember the first TV, set nearly fifty years ago, and a few years after, the first colour TV. Three decades later, desktop computers looked like magic. Personal computers were too big, they took too much space, but they did wonders, this is probably the reason why nobody cared about the wires all around the floor and how ugly computers were. Have you ever compared your life before and after mobile phones? Mobile phones are, undoubtedly, another prodigy of modern times. I feel privileged, not only because I can take advantage of everything technology has brought us, but also because I have been lucky enough to watch the process of evolution. So far, I am referring only to the part of evolution which we know about. Despite all this evolution, most of us probably don’t have the slightest idea of the true impact of evolution itself in the medical, engineering and science fields, to mention just a few examples. Actually, technological progress is one of the few signs we have of the evolution of human kind, transforming all of us into a more qualified and competent human kind. What about our minds? Have they matched and evolved in the same direction? Women conquered independence from men, they have left the safety of their homes and now they have their own jobs: these women became much more self-confident - they have earned a new personality. On the other hand, men's lives have also changed. Cooking and designing clothes are some of today’s top tasks to men – a few years ago, this kind of tasks would be considered minor to men. Prejudice, old hierarchy and tradition have ruled so far, seem to have given place to a complete renewed process where human minds are concerned. Nevertheless, the dispute between men and women is stronger than ever. The feminist movement gave a huge contribution to this rivalry: men and women challenge each other all the time and the dispute looks like it is never going to end. We all dream of a society able to consider Man as a whole, independently from race, religion or sex. The expression "weak sex" makes us believe that there is a "strong sex" and expressions like this prove that there is still a long road to travel before reaching the desirable balance between men and women. After all, nowadays men and women live side by side in the army: soldiers of both sexes are the living proof that together they can respond to the toughest challenges. Once we are aware of this, we must believe that what looks like a weakness is no more than a small difference which we should be smart enough to take advantage of. Language as a tool of human thought, monitors the forwards or backwards of our society, language is also used as a tool to change human minds and, at the same time, it is through language that we can see how humanity has, or has not, improved. Language is, at the same time, the means and the target. With this work we hope to be able to help demonstrating that the differences between masculine and feminine languages are, in fact, different ways to get to the same place: different means to achieve the same, because, before anything else, language results from our way of looking around, observing what is happening around us, analyse and express our feelings and our own vision of the world. This work also tries to convey the idea that differences between feminine and masculine languages are acceptable and the next step is taking masculinity or femininity as two different paths to reach the same goal: a more cohesive society.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Isabel Salazar Casanova (Supervisor)