According to Deborah Tannen, there is no such thing as an unmarked woman. She says that "a man can choose to wear a "marked" style but a woman has no choice". "The term "marked" is a staple of linguistic theory. It refers to the way language alters the meaning of a word by adding a linguistic particle that has no meaning on its own". Is there such a thing as an unmarked person? Or are we all marked in our own way? Everything we wear, or say or do is a marking. For example, wearing a Jewish star around my neck is a marking that I am Jewish. If that is the case then there is no such thing as an unmarked person. Everyone wears something that marks him or her, whether they realize it or not.

There is no such thing as an unmarked person. Tannen...