Gender differences: the attitude differences of Malay male and female students towards the use of swear words

This study was conducted to determine the attitude differences of Malay male and female students towards the use of swear words. The respondents consist of thirteen male and thirteen female Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris students aged between twenty and twenty three majoring in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), Sport Science, Malay studies and Accounting. The quantitative and qualitative analyses were used in this study. The descriptive statistics is used to report the frequency and percentages and the content analysis suggested by Fraenkel & Wallen (2003) was employed. The findings of this study indicate that the female students tend to use swear words negatively while the male students used it both negatively and positively. Both male and female students feel that factors such as environmental influences, the media and the norm encouraged the use of swearwords. Their approval and disapproval of the use of swear words are visible in their non-verbal language (gesture, facial expressions and body movements). The findings of this study also indicate that teenagers tend to use swear words more than any other age group and that swearing has become a form of habit among young Malaysians.