英语语法：217 When to Use Female Nouns

Today’s topic is the use of feminine nouns such as “actress” and "comedienne." These days, people often see such terms as sexist, but it's also common to hear at least some of them. So what exactly are the modern rules for using such terms? Actually, this isn't a matter of grammar. It’s about writing to minimize the potential for readers to draw conclusions you don’t want to convey.
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Other Languages Have More Feminine Nouns
It could be worse. In some languages, most nouns have different forms for different sexes. For example, in Spanish, a male lawyer is an abogado, and a female lawyer is an abogada. Furthermore, in some languages, even verbs can have different forms depending on the sex of their subject. In Hebrew, raa means “saw” for masculine subjects, while raata means “saw” for feminine subjects. In Mandarin¹ Chinese, a man can “marry” a woman, but a woman can only “be married to” a man (1).
Even in English, there used to be more female-specific nouns than there are now. Centuries ago, people used now-obsolete nouns such as “teacheress,” “soldieress,” and “ministress (2).” The fact that English has mostly abandoned female-specific nouns like these is probably part of the reason that the remaining ones tend to attract attention.
Paired Nouns Are OK
Sometimes male- and female-specific nouns don’t suggest problematic messages. Pairs such as “prince” and “princess,” “duke” and “duchess,” “abbott” and “abbess” are unobjectionable. In these pairs, the male-specific term never refers to both males and females (3). Even though it might be convenient to have a word to refer to any child of a king or queen, “prince” can only mean a king or queen’s son. So if the sexes are treated equally, each one having its own term, the female-specific term is probably OK.
Some Gender²-Neutral Nouns, Such as "Flight Attendant," Have Become Standard
The next-easiest cases are those where a gender-neutral term has become popular. In recent decades, gender-neutral terms such as “firefighter,” “police officer,” “mail carrier,” and “flight attendant” have gained currency. Definitely use these.
Problems Arise When a Noun Exists to Call Out Only One Sex
The troublesome cases are when we have one term that can refer to either sex, and another that refers only to women. Take the word “author.” It can refer to men or women in a sentence like “Our agency represents many authors.” But if you use “author” to refer to writers of either sex, and the exclusively feminine “authoress” to refer to female authors, you now have a way of referring specifically to female authors, but no way of referring specifically to male authors. The implication is that most authors are male, and that it’s worth pointing out when one of them isn’t. As The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language says, “the marked term suggests some difference in status, and may imply lower standards or achievement.”
Is There Ever a Good Reason to Write "Female Doctor"?
This issue comes up even when there aren’t gender-specific terms. For example, “doctor” can be either masculine or feminine. Sally McConnell-Ginet, a linguist³ at Cornell University who specializes in language and gender, advises, “If you write ‘female doctor,’ then ask yourself why you want to emphasize that a certain doctor is a woman. Do you write ‘male doctor’ in similar contexts?” Her point is that sexism in society makes it easy to send messages in our word choice that we don’t intend to send.
The guideline suggested in Garner’s Modern American Usage and The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage is to avoid using a gender-specific noun unless sex is relevant to the discussion. Usually it isn’t. Sex doesn’t typically matter when you’re talking about doctors or authors, for example.
But what about when sex is relevant? I’ve touched on this issue, in the episode on the words “woman” versus⁴ “female.” Another case in point: “actress.” Male and female actors usually play different kinds of roles, so it’s useful for people in show business to make this distinction. If “actress” saves them from having to say “female actor,” why not use it?
Unfortunately, even if you follow this guideline of using gender-neutral noun forms in most cases, and gender-specific nouns only when sex is relevant, the problem remains⁵. You’ll end up using female-specific terms to talk specifically about women, but where’s the analogous⁶ male-specific term? If there isn’t one, you may still be sending a message that a woman doing some job is surprising news. And indeed, although there is sometimes a good reason to use the word “actress,” that hasn’t stopped it from acquiring negative connotations as we're told by a contact in the industry.
In cases like these, where linguistic⁷ change is ongoing⁸, the usage of the audience you’re writing for can be a good guide. If a certain community uses “actress” where they are clearly not devaluing women’s acting⁹, feel free to do likewise. If they insist on “actor” across the board, you may want to follow suit.
Summary
If there’s a gender-neutral term in general use, use it. If there’s not, but the masculine and feminine nouns each stay in their own territory, then use them. Be careful when one term can refer to either sex, another term refers only to women, and no term refers only to men. In these cases, avoid referring to a person’s sex if possible, and if it’s not, carefully assess the usage of your audience. But remember that these “rules” are just shortcuts¹⁰: What matters is getting across the messages you want to send, and trying to block those you don’t.
Thanks to Sally McConnell-Ginet for her comments on an earlier draft of this article.

 

1 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

2 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

3 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 analogous   

adj.相似的；类似的

参考例句：

• The two situations are roughly analogous.两种情況大致相似。
• The company is in a position closely analogous to that of its main rival.该公司与主要竞争对手的处境极为相似。

7 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 shortcuts   

n.捷径( shortcut的名词复数 )；近路；快捷办法；被切短的东西（尤指烟草）

参考例句：

• In other words, experts want shortcuts to everything. 换句话说，专家需要所有的快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Offer shortcuts from the Help menu. 在帮助菜单中提供快捷方式。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓