It's high time I began the research project I have thought about for, quite literally, years.
Academic research regarding gender bias in language has tended to focus on either pronouns (the use of masculine pronouns by default, for example) or on eliminating the use of gendered terms for professions. A few style guides touch on gender bias communicated through language (ie, focusing on different traits for different genders of characters).
I am more curious about the gendered cultural perceptions of individual words themselves. I want to know if the words themselves, when taken out of all context, are perceived as masculine, feminine, or neutral. I'd also like to see if those same words are perceived as positive, negative, and the neutral.
I'm finalizing the methodology and will be launching the study in the next few weeks.