Language and sexuality

Language and Sexuality from a Desire-Based Perspective

Anthropology -- Language & Sexuality

The broader theoretical treatment of the study of sexuality has long been recognized in the fields of linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics. Historically, sexuality has been discussed in sociocultural studies of language over the long-term. In fact, this work and the research it generated make up the emergent history and the scope of research on language and sexuality. This analytical discourse on the topic of sexuality and language is socially oriented, to be certain, but the it has followed a path of convenience, resulting in piecemeal treatment and an underlying fragmentation of the body of work.

Discussion of the desire-oriented approach to sexuality and language, theorizing the motivation and development of the approach from a poststructuralist position.

Outline

Sexist language

Women and men's talk: single/mixed sex; private/public

Gender and politeness

Peer and classroom talk

5. Public and workplace talk

6. Gender and the media -- magazines, newspapers, ads.

7. Language, gender, and media

8. Language, gender, and sexuality

9. Language, sexuality and powerful institutions (religion, politics)

10. Gender and cyber-communication

Annotated Bibliography

Bieswanger, M. And Motschenbacher, H. (2010). Language in its socio-cultural context: New explorations in gendered, global, and media uses. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publisher.

The authors present a comprehensive treatment of the basis for arguing that language is both situated in and shaped by cultural and social context. The influences of cognition, culture, and society on gendered, media, and global language in a contemporary environment are discussed. Perspectives from many disciplines will find traction, including applied linguistics, computer-mediated communication (CMS), culture and cognition, discourse analysis, and linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics.

Bucholtz, M. And Hall, K. (2004). Theorizing identity in language and sexuality research. Language in Society, 33, 469-515. DOI: 10.10170S004740450044021

The authors argue for a study of sexuality identity that is the outcome of intersubjectively negotiated practices and ideologies. The work maps out the movement from identity-based sexuality to desire-based sexuality -- and then finally to research that includes the relationship between identity and desire.

Cameron, D. (2005, December). Language, gender, and sexuality: Current issues and new directions. Applied Linguistics, 26(4), 482-502. doi: 10.1093/applin/ami027

This work chronicals the changes in sociolinguistic and applied linguistic research over the past decade and a half. The reader is provided explicit exploration of the concepts of binary difference vs. diversity of gendered and sexual identities and practices. The motivations for this postmodern turn are discussed in detail.

Cameron, D. And Kulick, R. (2003). Lanuage and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press.

The authors explore the linguistic and discursive construction of sexuality. The work addresses the relation of language to sexuality, desire, gender, sexual orientation, heterosexuality and heteronormativity, and the theory research, and politics of language and sexuality.

Canakis, C., Kantsa, V., and Yannakopoulos (Eds.). (2010). Language and Sexuality (through and) beyond gender. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

This solidly contrasts work from anthropologists and linguists and, in the process, articulates the discipline-based differences, while providing a framework to examine the writings from both perspectives -- albeit, by necessity, separately.

Knutson, A. (1905). The gender of words denoting living beings in English, and the different ways of expressing difference is sex. Hakan Ohlsson Publishers.

This volume is useful for backward-mapping to the origins and changes of language associated with sexuality with over 100 years perspective.

Kulick, C. (2006). The Language and Sexuality Reader. Taylor & Francis.

A collection of contemporary and historical works that spans many academic disciplines is brought together in this resource. The commonality of the works -- which include psychology, anthropology, linguistics, communication studies, and medicine -- is an exploration of human sexuality and the use of language to communicate about sexuality.

Morrish, L., Morrish, E., and Sauntson, H. (2007, November 15). New perspectives on language and sexual identity. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Publishing.

This work focuses on the ways that lesbians and gay men use language to create a situated identity. Actual linguistic data is analyzed using textual, spoken language, and corpus linguistic approaches. Analyses are related to contemporary sociolinguistic theories.

Motschenbacher, H. ( 2011, November 11). Language, gender, and sexual identity: Poststructuralist perspectives. John Benjamins Publishing.

The authors focus on the relatively new field of Queer Linguistics. Using a poststructuralist frame, a deconstructionist perspective, and a linguistic point-of-view, the authors address the manner and outcomes of discursive construction of heteronormativity and gender binarism. Experts in linguistics can appreciate the scientific analyses, while students and those new to the field will find the basic topics appealing. Especially salient is the treatment of the damaging potential of some gendered linquistic forms may have in particular contexts.

Sauntson, H. And Kyratzis, S. (Eds.) (2007). Language, sexualities, & desires: Cross-cultural perspectives. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Macmillan.

This collection of works addresses the nexus between culture and sexuality by illustrating the basis and theories for the different ways in which sexualities are constructed, perceived, and represented in societies, in cultures, and in language. The ways in which linguistic features are used to construct and signal sexual identities, sexual relationships, lifestyle choices, and identification and membership in particular social groups.