1. Introduction

1.1 What is sexism

Language is created during the process of human being#8217;s production and social practice, and is an important tool of thought and communication. As a universal social phenomenon, sexism is not only reflected in every aspect of social life, but also in languages. Many linguists paid much attention to the study of the relations between language and sexes. One of the major research topics is the gender discrimination in language, that is sexism.

1.2 What is sexism in language

When sexism is reflected in the language, the language will be called sexism language. Currently, the sexism language mainly means looking down on women. (Deng, Liu, 1989) Danish linguist Jesperson points out that English is the most masculine language he is familiar with, and English is a kind of language which has gender.(Jesperson, 1923) Sexism is usually used to express men#8217;s attitudes towards women. ”When applied to language, sexism means that masculine forms and masculine marked words predominate”. ”This biased representation of the sexes in language concerns the portrayal of men as the norm and women as the appendage or as the exception in language” ( Jesperson, Language, 1964, p267-285 ), which is often called linguistic sexism. The ideological basis of sexism is that human beings consider the men rule the women as nature process. This idea has rooted in traditional culture deeply for thousands of years so that the language also reflects the rule of men. Women are seen as passive targets for sexism has many manifestations in the language, the most obvious is the word. (Cameron, 1990)

1.3 Need for the study

The sexism in English language is a relatively new research topic, which has raised munch concern of many countries around the world. Since the social status and social functions of men and women are different and gender differences are existent, these differences are consequentially reflected in languages. Therefore, it#8217;s worthy of having an attempt of changing the phenomenon of sexism in language. It#8217;s doomed to take a place in the research field of language. Close attention to the social phenomenon of sexism in language will ulteriorly promote the development of language.