/lp/oxford-university-press/gender-a-useful-category-of-historical-analysis-ZyoZZ8F68I
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- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Copyright
- © American Historical Association 1986
- ISSN
- 0002-8762
- eISSN
- 1937-5239
- DOI
- 10.1086/ahr/91.5.1053
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis JOAN W. SCOTT Geilden n. a grammatical term only. To talk of persons or creatures of the masculine or fe minine gender, meaning of the mate or female sex, is either a jocularity (permissible or not according to context) or a blun- der. (Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Oxford, 1940). THOSE WHO WOULD CODIFY THE MEANINGS OF WORDS fight a losing battle, for words, like the ideas and things they are meant to signify, have a history. Neither Oxford dons nor the Academie Française have been entirely able to stem the tide, to capture and fix meanings free of the play of human invention and imagination. Mary Wortley Montagu added bite to her witty denunciation "of the fair sex" ("my only consolation for being of that gender has been the assurance of never being married to any one among them") by deliberately misusing the grammatical reference.' Through the altes, people have made figurative allusions by employing grammatical terms to evoke traits of character or sexuality. For example, the usage offered by the Dictionnaire de la langue frarimise in 1876 was, "On ne sait de quel genre il est, s'il est mále
Journal
The American Historical Review – Oxford University Press
Published: Dec 1, 1986