My Blogette

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As we continue our talk about language and the biases within ordinary words, I was gifted the commercial on *Nicorette* ← (I don’t know how to add the sparkle emojis so this is my best attempt). As the commercial explains Nicorette, it is a weaker dose of Nicotine to help ease someone out of an addiction.

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Thinking back to the Word Police and There is no Unmarked Woman, I began to realize the bias-inherent within the name Nicorette. As the suffix -ette- is connoted with a female, it was mind-boggling when I put two-and-two together.

Calling the weaker dose of Nicotine Nicorette stimulates sexism within society with the connotation of a female on the weaker dose. Similar to how a cigarette is a smaller version of a cigar, this continues the stereotype that women are smaller than men. As Tannen put it best: “Would you feel safe entrusting your life to
a doctorette?” Of course the immediate response is no because the suffix indicates a frivolous nature and no one wants a surgery performed by a flippant person. 

In the same manner, the classic comment in elementary school when someone called someone a ‘dude,’ there was always that one person who brought up ‘dudette,’ was laughed at by peers. This is because even though the ‘-ette’ is trying to add equality between two of the sexes, dudettes are never respected the same as dudes. 

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In Spanish, one would add ‘-ito’ or ‘-ita’ to the end of the word (similar to the ‘-ette’), to add emphasis on how small an object or person is. For instance, if someone said: “awww pobrecita,” that would translate as: poor little thing. Bringing this back to the ‘-ette,’ it is not respected as much because the woman with this label are seen as small, not harmful, and frivolous; however, without the suffix, it is given all respect because it is seen as a full-sized, not weaker version of the object, person, or profession. 

On a side note, it is Women's History Month. The next time people say or post something, I would urge them to think about their subconscious bias toward the patriarchal society and how their comments will affect those around them. Please enjoy this Tiktok by Delta Airlines with women clearly working in hard working labor jobs. (link)