Towards a sociolinguistic analysis of the current relevance of androcentric proverbs in Peninsular Spanish

Abstract

Gender-related Spanish proverbs are often reflections of what Swim, Aikin, Hall and Hunter (1995) identify as Old-Fashioned Sexism which make these proverbs appear outdated. Using questionnaires designed based on both the Modern Sexism and Old-Fashioned Sexism theories of Swim et al (1995), the author investigates the current relevance of some gender-related proverbs. The study reveals that overtly sexist proverbs are uncommon in modern times. However, androcentricism and sexism are still evident in some contemporary Spanish proverbs because some old-fashioned overtly sexist proverbs have refashioned themselves into proverbs that appear covertly benevolent to women, concealing the ‘traditional’ and bluntly sexist ones.

Keywords

• proverbs
• feminist linguistics
• modern sexism scale
• old-fashioned sexism scale
• linguistic androcentricism