The social perception of heroes and murders: Effects of gender-inclusive language in media reports

The way media depict women and men can reinforce or diminish gender stereotyping. Which part does language play in this context? Are roles perceived as more gender-balanced when feminine role nouns are used in addition to masculine ones? Research on gender-inclusive language shows that the use of feminine-masculine word pairs tends to increase the visibility of women in various social roles. For example, when speakers of German were asked to name their favorite "heroine or hero in a novel," they listed more female characters than when asked to name their favorite "hero in a novel." The research reported in this article examines how the use of gender-inclusive language in news reports affects readers' own usage of such forms as well as their mental representation of women and men in the respective roles. In the main experiment, German participants (N = 256) read short reports about heroes or murderers which contained either masculine generics or gender-inclusive forms (feminine-masculine word pairs). Gender-inclusive forms enhanced participants' own usage of gender-inclusive language and this resulted in more gender-balanced mental representations of these roles. Reading about "heroines and heroes" made participants assume a higher percentage of women among persons performing heroic acts than reading about "heroes" only, but there was no such effect for murderers. A post-test suggested that this might be due to a higher accessibility of female exemplars in the category heroes than in the category murderers. Importantly, the influence of gender-inclusive language on the perceived percentage of women in a role was mediated by speakers' own usage of inclusive forms. This suggests that people who encounter gender-inclusive forms and are given an opportunity to use them, use them more themselves and in turn have more gender-balanced mental representations of social roles.

Las batallas : canto dedicado a los heroes de la restauración /

Mode of access: Internet.

The heroes of the heart, and other lyrical poems.

Mode of access: Internet.

The gentleman and lady's key to polite literature, or, A compendious dictionary of fabulous history : containing the characters, and principal actions, ascribed to the heathen gods, goddesses, heroes, &c. and the manner in which the ancients represented the deities & heroes ... : intended for the assistance of those who would understand mythology, poetry, painting, statuary and theatrical entertainments, and particularly adapted to the use of Latin and French schools.

Frontispiece signed "Le Pautre." Engraved title-page.

The gallant deeds of our naval heroes : told for boys and girls : including the adventures of Captain Paul Jones, Commodore Perry, commodore Decatur, Admiral Farragut, Admiral Dewey, and many others of America's brave sailors who won glory in battles at home and abroad; also the story of the ships made famous by great battles and great captains /

Mode of access: Internet.

The history and heroes of the art of medicine.

Mode of access: Internet.

A land of heroes; stories from early Irish history.

Mode of access: Internet.

The pioneer heroes of the New world : from the earliest period (982) to the present time /

Mode of access: Internet.

African heroes and heroines /

"Second edition."

Heroes, villains, and fools; the changing American character.

Mode of access: Internet.

O Acre e os seus heroes,

Mode of access: Internet.

The heroes : or, Greek fairy tales for my children /

Perseus.--The Argonauts.--Theseus.

Montesa ilustrada : origen, fundacion, principios, institutos, casos, progressos, iurisdicion, derechos, priuilegios, preeminencias, dignidades, oficios, beneficios, heroes y varones ilustres de la ... religion militar de N.S. Santa Maria de Montesa y San George de Alfama /

El primer volumen contiene las dos primeras partes y un indice general de toda la obra. El segundo volumen incluye la tercera y cuarta parte.

Jornadas divertidas, politicas sentencias y hechos memorables de los reyes y heroes de la antigüedad /

Mode of access: Internet.

Jornadas divertidas, politicas sentencias y hechos memorables de los reyes y heroes de la antigüedad /

Mode of access: Internet.