The Gender Antonym Replacement Technique (GART): Computer-Assisted Categorization of Gender Issues in Selected Feminist Literature.

The Gender Antonym Replacement Technique is a computer assisted aid to determine whether a written statement about the condition of one sex does in fact speak to problems encountered principally by that sex, rather than to problems common to both sexes. The technique involves deleting gender-related terms in a passage, substituting an antonym for each of them, and then comparing the validity of the original and transformed versions. This paper describes the way the technique was used in determining the validity of 48 passages taken from feminist literature, cites several of the passages in their original and transformed versions, and discusses problems encountered by the researchers. It then presents the results of the study, which indicated that in 24 cases both the original and transformed selections were warranted, indicating that the selections treated problems common to both sexes; in 18 cases the original selection was warranted and the transformed version was unwarranted, indicating that the selection treated problems encountered principally by one sex; and in 6 cases, both the original and transformed versions were considered to make unwarranted, fallacious statements about males and females. (GW)