No Excuses: Add the Bias-Free Word Finder to your desk.
Do you always use the best and the most respectful words when you write? Can you always recognize when you're using a biased word? Do you always know what to substitute when you find yourself with a stereotypical phrase or word?
There's help - Rosalie Maggio's Bias-Free Word Finder, a Dictionary of Nondiscriminatory Language, which should have a place on every writer's desk.
Maggio's dictionary is designed to help you scrap outdated, stereotypical, and damaging language. In addition to terms that are prejudicial to women, it includes terms that are prejudicial to men, as well as words and phrases that are biased against people because of their race, age, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic origin, or belief system.
You may not agree with everything in the book because there isn't complete consensus today on which words are biased and on what constitutes an adequate substitute. Some people find words like master and fellow sexist; others do not. Some people smirk over the word manhole and suggest personhole as a substitute, rather than considering such bias-free words as sewer hole, utility access hole, vent hole, utility tunnel, exit port, or underground service access hole.
"Replacing biased words and phrases with terms that treat all people respectfully can be satisfying and rewarding," Maggio says. "It can also be difficult and frustrating."
There can't be any solution to the problem of bias in society on the level of language alone, Maggio says:
Replacing handicap with disability does not mean a person with disabilities will find a job more easily . . . the language we use is symptomatic of our attitudes and beliefs. Changing the language does not automatically affect the way we think. However, research indicates that language powerfully influences attitudes, behavior, and perceptions. To ignore this factor in social change would be cultural suicide.
This book is inexpensive and easy to use. There's no excuse not to add it to your desk as a reference guide. The Bias-Free Word Finder, a Dictionary of Nondiscriminatory Language by Rosalie Maggio is published by Beacon Press, Boston, and is available for between $9 and $12 on book Web sites, such as Amazon.com.
This book review appeared in the December 2001 issue of the ACE Newsletter, "Signals." Although the Guidelines of the journal specify reviews of media current within two-three years, we thought that this topic was worthy of inclusion. For more current resources, see related titles below:
Talking About People (1997) by Rosalie Maggio
Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing (1995) by Marilyn Schwartz
The Color of Words (1997) by Philip Herbst
Florita Montgomery, West Virginia University
See also
Terminologies of Diversity 97: A Dictionary of Terms for Individuals, Organizations and Professions (1997) by Agger-Gupta, Niels. Edmonton. Citizenship Services Branch, Alberta Community development.
Diversity Dictionary: A Dictionary of Nondiscriminatory Language (1997) by Nelsen, Vivian Jenkins. Hypatia Trust, Minneapolic, MN.
Source: WorldCat 12/07/2001
Joyce Dolbier, University of Florida
