Polite women and cursing men : A survey of secondary school students´perceptions of female and male language

The purpose of this study is to map secondary school students’ perception of male andfemale language. The study was performed in two classes in 7th grade and two classesin grade 9. The survey consisted mainly of categorization questions of differentlinguistic behaviours as female or male, but also gave the students the opportunity tofreely describe differences. The responses were then processed through a quantitativeand qualitative analysis.The students perceived the male language as more dominant, curt and offensive, andthought that men took more place through language. Women’s language wasunderstood to be used to seek contact, to be eloquent, to indicate uncertainty and to becorrect and polite