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...
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…
