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Sex Bias In Writing

by Alan Petersen
9 replies
Hello there,

I was wondering how important is it to write in gender neutral terms when writing sales copy? I'll use a famous headline as an example:

"THE LAZY MAN'S WAY TO RICHES" which was written in the early 70's. In today's world wouldn't it be best to write "THE LAZY PERSON'S WAY TO RICHES"?

How PC do we need to be in our copywriting to not alienate perspective customers? I'm not concerned about grammatical correctness but political correctness of using gender terminology that might be seen as biased.

Your feedback is appreciated!

Alan
#bias #copywriting #gender neutrality #sex bias #writing
  • Profile picture of the author icjackson
    I do it when I know the audience will care, and when writing in a formal style.

    I restrict my useage to those circumstances because gender sensitivity in writing can be tedious and it can interrupt the flow of the work.

    I hate having to jump through all of the grammatical hoops involved with acknowledging both sexes. Any time I use a pronoun I have to say, "he or she", "him or her", or "himself or herself" - if the tone of a piece is conversational, that can get really annoying really quickly.

    However, on the contrary, if a work is more formal, it usually doesn't pose such a burden. It just depends...


    I'm a woman, and I am not offended by titles like "The Lazy Man's Way To Riches". However, if the book poses a gender bias in it's message, that can be annoying. Gender generic language in and of itself really isn't offensive to most women. It's gender bias in the message that most often causes a stir.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Alan, that's a very good point that you brought up especially referring to
      that headline.

      Today, I think you do need to be gender neutral.

      Now, having said that, if your product is targeted to a male audience, like
      baldness, then yes, you DO use the headline...

      "Men...Want Your Hair Back In 7 Days...Guaranteed?"

      Yes, I know, women can go bald, but this is mostly a men's problem.

      If you're targeting men, speak to me. If you're targeting women, speak to
      women. If it's neutral, speak to both.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
    Originally Posted by Alan Petersen View Post

    "THE LAZY MAN'S WAY TO RICHES" which was written in the early 70's. In today's world wouldn't it be best to write "THE LAZY PERSON'S WAY TO RICHES"?
    Look at the market for that type of product... I bet "Man's" would out-pull "Person's".

    Write to your core target audience. Being "neutral" attracts no one.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
      Originally Posted by Kyle Tully View Post

      Look at the market for that type of product... I bet "Man's" would out-pull "Person's".

      Write to your core target audience. Being "neutral" attracts no one.
      Exactly. If my target audience is men and women using gender neutral verbiage is best then using sexist writing. I like Steve's tip:

      If you're targeting men, speak to men. If you're targeting women, speak to
      women. If it's neutral, speak to both.
      The consensus from several professional writers is to use culture-and-gender-neutral language. It's not about being "neutral" it's about reaching out to your target audience when it includes men and women. At the very least a concept worth testing to see which one pulls better. But for now if my target is men and women I would use "person" over "man".
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  • Profile picture of the author John Rowe
    Originally Posted by Alan Petersen View Post

    "THE LAZY MAN'S WAY TO RICHES" which was written in the early 70's.
    THE LAZY WOMAN'S WAY TO RICHES...
    Would get more attention today, from both genders!

    Think about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Omar Khafagy
    Alan, here's my take...

    I'm gonna assume that your objective in all of this is to earn money. You do this by speaking to your reader.

    You find out how much your reader is listening by testing both headlines and figuring out which one sells more.

    Then, you know your answer.

    Consider this too: what about fields where there IS no gender neutral word that's easily read/known.

    For example "Become an Actor in 10 Easy Steps!"

    You COULD say "Become an Actress in 10 Easy Steps!" (and in some markets that might be more effective)

    But the only gender neutral alternative I can think of is "Thespian". Would you ever stick Thespian in there instead?

    Your best bet is to just test it out =)
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    Omar Khafagy
    Administrator of www.CopywritingBoard.com

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    • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
      It's interesting that you cite Joe Karbo's book. It was widely
      advertised in magazines for years... mostly journals with
      a predominantly male readership.

      It's a wild generalization to say that men seek investment/sales opportunities
      while women are more likely to seek work-at-home jobs, not
      investment opportunities or complex schemes. You can check
      this at the WAHM.com site where on a daily basis women inquire
      about ways to make money from home with no investment - the
      work from home J.O.B.

      I have a theory about this. Men are often frustrated with the
      earning possibilities of their skills in their local economies so
      they look for opportunities to make money in other ways.
      Almost by definition the guy has to be in a career path that
      isn't satisfying.

      Women with young children tend to be considerably more
      risk-averse and more interested in finding ways to get paid
      while their kids are occupied by working at home.

      These generalizations are just that. In my experience as
      a man selling business opportunities the people who move
      forward are overwhelmingly men. I try to write for women
      too, and women like my stuff... but probably 85% of my
      subscribers seem to be men... and that's more or less reflected
      in 85% of the buyers being men as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author icjackson
    I find it interesting that the two women who replied to this thread are the only ones who have said it's not that big a deal.

    Apparently, the feminist movement (I'm not commenting on whether it is good or bad) has created a strong sensitivity to gender neutrality in media...with those who are most likely to be accused of being insensitive.

    If it goes against the natural flow, please don't do it. Bad writing or writing that is unappealing to the reader is a much worse offense than not acknowledging both sexes at every turn.
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