WHEN A WOMAN NEEDS TO BE SEEN, HEARD AND WRITTEN AS A WOMAN: RAPE, LAW AND AN ARGUMENT AGAINST GENDER NEUTRAL LANGUAGE*

While moves towards gender neutral language may seem to be desirable for reducing sexism and discrimination, this paper argues that at least in the case of rape␣such gender neutrality is not appropriate. A recent Australian appeal is examined to show that despite significant ‘verbal hygiene’, [D. Cameron, Verbal Hygiene (London: Routledge, 1995)] traces of discrimination against women are still linguistically discernable. This suggests that simply changing language will not change attitudes. Rather, for women to be treated well in rape cases, their voices and experiences need to be represented appropriately. I would like to thank Dr. Clare McManus for the title inspiration.