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Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
41–50 of 178 posts
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Heh. You have no idea. English doesn't even have proper genders. You're on easy mode. If I say: "Your manager is good.", it's neutral. You can't figure out if I'm talking about a man or a woman without something additional. In Romanian, and I guess in most Latin languages, no such luck. Except for a handful of neologisms, everything clearly mentions the gender, for better of for worse. The direct translation in Roman…
A Bulgarian colleague of mine said that even surnames are gendered - her surname is Nakova, her father's is Nakov. It plays merry hell with admin software from anglo nations which assume surnames aren't gendered, apparently.
Same in Czech, which I believe still enforces the -ova ending. (Please correct me if that changed)
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, we're talking about gender here, not sex, and given that there are two genders [commonly represented in literature], it stands to reason that they would have different tendencies of behavior, or else there would be no difference between the genders, and the concept would not exist.
Right, of course. Since we live in a universe devoid of power relationships, it stands to reason that two groups described differently are in fact different, since no one has an interest in describing people other than accurately. Like how the Jews used to be all scheming and evil, but really cleaned up their act in the past few decades.
Right, of course, since we live in an universe devoid of genetic differences, it stands to reason that two groups described differently are in fact different.
Genetic differences are FACTS. If you do not account for facts, you're operating in the twilight zone.
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#44I'd wager that much of this could be explained by the "masculine" verbs being used in relation to a protagonist more often, whereas the "feminine" verbs describe reactions to the actions of a protagonist.
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it sexist if it's reflective of reality? Men commit more aggressive crimes than women by far.
Shhhhhh! Theres no room for reality in here, were pretending that gender is a made up sociological concept
To my knowledge, gender is thought of as a complex of at least two aspects: those differences between what is thought of as masculine and feminine, and the roles assigned to genders. In these cases, gender pertains to the ideas of gender identity and further gender expression. In other cases, gender is also thought of as including or being inextricably related to biological sex.
Gender isn't "made up" in the same way that words aren't "made up"; it is an aspect of society, but unlike words, gender is with some relation to observable physical biological expression, usually termed as 'sex'. But the concept of gender as I have seen it used is certainly depending on society, rather than physical sex.
Variations within sex (such as intersex) is another question and is unrelated to gender, as far as I know.
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Heh. You have no idea. English doesn't even have proper genders. You're on easy mode. If I say: "Your manager is good.", it's neutral. You can't figure out if I'm talking about a man or a woman without something additional. In Romanian, and I guess in most Latin languages, no such luck. Except for a handful of neologisms, everything clearly mentions the gender, for better of for worse. The direct translation in Roman…
A Bulgarian colleague of mine said that even surnames are gendered - her surname is Nakova, her father's is Nakov. It plays merry hell with admin software from anglo nations which assume surnames aren't gendered, apparently.
Not just Bulgarian. I know Latvian surnames have the same concept. Probably others too.
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
As in "She Apache helicoptered him in the face"?
Some people identify as "attack helicopter".
This is a very tired meme. If anyone doesn't understand it, perhaps one can understand its usage by context, usually accompanied by ideas such as "gender isn't real, to prove it, I identity as a helicopter" (ironically/jokingly of course) and the classic "triggered".
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#48> what verbs are used after “he” and “she”, and therefore what roles male and female characters tend to have within stories. It might've been better had the author (and the Jane Austen article's author) used some NLP processing to see whether the pronoun was actually the subject of those verbs. But I'll grant that it's usually the case. Also interesting: gender and the object of those verbs. EDIT: after some research…
Do you need NLP for that?
The forms he, she and they are used when a pronoun is the subject of a sentence. The forms him, her and them are used when a pronoun is the object of a sentence.
https://www.englishgrammar.org/words-heshe-himher-hishers/
I would think looking at the verb that comes after he/she also doubles as a subject/object filter.
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#49> I think this paints a somewhat dark picture of gender roles within typical story plots. Women are more likely to be in the role of victims- “she screams”, “she cries”, or “she pleads.” Men tend to be the aggressor: “he kidnaps” or “he beats”. Not all male-oriented terms are negative- many, like “he saves”/”he rescues” are distinctly positive- but almost all are active rather than receptive. Got mathematical analysi…
The term aggressor is misplaced. The data shows how men as a general rule always play the antagonist and the disposable henchmen. The mustache-twirling, eye-rolling, leering, cackling, and hand-rubbing villain is by definition male, and in the rare occasion a plot is different and switches the gender of the antagonist it also adds additional changes like poison and stabbing instead of guns and punching.
Re: Gender and verbs across 100K stories: a tidy analysis
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, we're talking about gender here, not sex, and given that there are two genders [commonly represented in literature], it stands to reason that they would have different tendencies of behavior, or else there would be no difference between the genders, and the concept would not exist.
Right, of course. Since we live in a universe devoid of power relationships, it stands to reason that two groups described differently are in fact different, since no one has an interest in describing people other than accurately. Like how the Jews used to be all scheming and evil, but really cleaned up their act in the past few decades.
Like how the Jews used to be all scheming and evil, but really cleaned up their act in the past few decades.
Seems like the Muslims have taken up the Evil Baton.
That said, what if the Jews had been the outgroup that has no obligations to the ingroup and vice versa? In the Middle Ages there were prohibitions on taking interest and charity was encouraged, which meant credit was unavailable, but relatives had potential to be bottomless barrels. We are still seeing this with athletes from an impoverished background. One can see why a group with no such restrictions would be useful, even successful.
I think in East Africa the Indians occupied a similar position in society, and when Idi Amin emulated the Catholic Majesties and expelled the Indians the outcome was equally disastrous.