I'm slowly learning to speak Spanish so that I can talk with my girlfriend's parents, but it reminded me of studying Italian in school. I was so focused on the rules that I never really stopped to question them. Everything is related to gender. When you are saying that a group of people went somewhere, the way the verb is conjugated depends on whether the group contains a male or not. If it is a group of all females, it is said one way, but if even one male is in the group, it is said differently. That one guy dominates the entire group. I never noticed until this class and the discussion of how communication is so male-dominated that this was not only true of English. It's funny because I almost felt betrayed because I thought that was the "rule" whereas it's just what's accepted like it is here.
Random note: super awesomely excited because I'm going to Denver this weekend with my girlfriend to my first Pride :-)
I actually never thought about that either, until now. Being in any class, students just follow the rules of what is being learned. Accepting something for exactly what it is, never questioning why or whether or not something should be changed. Like you, I have taken Spanish classes, because I want to learn the language to communicate with others. And I never realized that different verbs were formed for certain genders, I just went by the rules. Thinking nothing more of it. And now the question is really why, would one male dominate in a group, even if there are more females in a group? I could understand then, but why now is it still the same way? Because it is accepted, most would not see the bigger issue in it.
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