.Words that refer to women are commonly associated with negative implications. There are 220 terms for a sexually promiscuous woman and only 22 terms for a sexually promiscuous man. Women are referred to as bitch, tramp, slut and many other hostile terms. There are also pairs of words that have a negative suggestion to the female while the male equivalent is seen as positive. A bachelor is viewed as a man who has it all while a spinster is a woman who is unable to get a man, usually viewed as ugly and unwanted. Women are referred to in large part by their looks or parts of their bodies. Women are referred to as babes, chick, and broads. The elimination of sexual stereotyping of roles by not calling attention to irrelevancies; woman doctor or lady lawyer. Labeling in reverse also occurs, such as, a male who becomes a nurse is stated to be a male nurse because, in our culture, it so odd for males to do this profession. The labeling produces the same effect, as does the racial-ethic labeling: a suggestion that the lawyer is limited or qualified, not a real lawyer, but a lady lawyer. In a related manner, physical labels frequently identify women, although men usually are not, as in the charming, red-haired skydiver or the perky, shapely cellist. Anyone reading descriptions like that knows they refer to women, not to men. (Heatherington, 1995 p. 181)Another problem are the terms of address; such as, Miss and Mrs. indicate the sex and marital status of the person while the term Mr. indicates the sex only. It is unbalanced and unnecessary to specify the marital status of women but not of men. Ms. is recommended for all women when the parallel Mr. is used. Ms. was initially supposed to be neutral term like Mr., which did not identify the marital status of the individual, but in many cases Ms. is coming to be used in place of Miss, particularly to identify a divorced woman. (Heatherington, 1995 p. 180) For example instead of Fran...
