thletic activities (Howe,6). Howe continues to discover more and more ways that the sex roles are depicted in a negative or unflattering manner. She states, "The absence of the adventurous heroines may shock the innocent; the absence of even a few stories about women doctors, lawyers, or professors thwarts reality; but the consistent presence of one female stereotype is the most troublesome matter:Primrose was playing house. Just as she finished pouring tea for her dolls she began to think. She thought and thought and she thought some more: Whom shall I marry? Whomever shall I marry? I think I shall marry a mailman. Then I could go over to everybodys house and give them their mail. Or I might marry a policeman. I could help him take the children across the street." (Howe, 7). In this example, Howe reiterates the lack of female models that girls are exposed to, and worse, the stereotypically, unflattering roles that they are exposed to. How can girls have heroes to emulate when there are no significant female roles portrayed. This story exemplifies the stereotypical female role of the woman searching for a man who will take care of her and then she can live vicariously through that man. This leads to the most criticized form of discrimination - language (Howe, 11). Language discrimination permeates society. The most common example is in the use of maiden and marriage names. This reinforces the belief that the women "belong" to a man; first, her father, then her husband. Many words are gender specific and the "female" words usually have negative connotations. The female name of an animal is also a negative description of a womans character. Examples include: cow, bitch and *censored*. There is also the use of the word "man" in the names of many occupations: chairman, fireman, mailman, etc. Most of these professions have attempted to change the names to something more neutral and gender acceptable (Howe, 11).Th...
