Language, gender and sexuality in 2022
Documenting and resisting regressive ideology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.26176Keywords:
critical discourse studies, feminism, gender critical feminism, gender-neutral pronouns, queer linguistics, sexism, transphobiaAbstract
This article focuses on research from 2022 that critically analyses the ways in which oppressive discourses continue to circulate, and which examines the role of language in protesting and resisting these discourses. It considers studies that remind us of the feminist and queer principles underpinning the field: to question and critique how hegemonic ideologies of gender and sexuality are reproduced and maintained. The review explores two key areas: research that reveals the continuing problem of mainstream transphobia and studies that consider how feminist discourses of resistance operate linguistically. It concludes with a call for more of this research to be applied to real-world contexts in order to create tangible change. In bringing this work together, the review aims to reaffirm the vital and emancipatory role that language, gender and sexuality scholarship has in both documenting and resisting regressive ideology.
References
Adegbola, Olubunmi Funmi (2022) The discursive construction of gay people in news reports of selected Nigerian newspapers. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(1): 80–100. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.19009.ade
Anderson, Catherine (2022) Pronouns and social justice in the linguistics classroom. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(2): 251–263. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.20024.and
Bailey, Aimee (2022) ‘Go home to the second wave!’: discourses of trans inclusion and exclusion in a queer women’s online community. Discourse, Context & Media 50: 100656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2022.100656
Borba, Rodrigo (2022) Enregistering ‘gender ideology’: the emergence and circulation of a transnational anti-gender language. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(1): 57–79. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.21003.bor
Bucholtz, Mary, Casillas, Dolores Inés and Lee, Jin Sook (2016) Beyond empowerment: accompaniment and sociolinguistic justice in a youth research program. In Robert Lawson and Dave Sayers (eds) Sociolinguistic Research: Application and Impact 25–44. London: Routledge.
Cameron, Deborah, Frazer, Elizabeth, Harvey, Penelope, Rampton, Ben and Richardson, Kay (1993) Ethics, advocacy and empowerment: issues of method in researching language. Language & Communication 13(2): 81–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/0271-5309(93)90001-4
Cha?upnik, Ma?gorzata and Brookes, Gavin (2022) Discursive acts of resistance: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of All-Poland Women’s Strike’s social media. Gender and Language 16(3): 308–333. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.20148
Chiluwa, Innocent (2022) Women’s online advocacy campaigns for political participation in Nigeria and Ghana. Critical Discourse Studies 19(5): 465–484. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2021.1999287
Conrod, Kirby (2022) Variation in English gendered pronouns: analysis and recommendations for ethics in linguistics. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(2): 141–164. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.20026.con
Cordoba, Sebastian (2022) Non-Binary Gender Identities: The Language of Becoming. London: Routledge.
Crowley, Archie (2022) Language ideologies and legitimacy among nonbinary YouTubers. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(2): 165–189. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.20021.cro
Diabah, Grace (2022) Bloody widows?: discourses of tradition and gender in Ghanaian politics. Discourse & Society 33(2): 154–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265221088160
End Violence Against Women (2022) Violence against Women and Girls Snapshot Report 2021–22. London: End Violence Against Women Coalition.
Esposito, Eleonora and Sinatora, Francesco L. (2022) Social media discourses of feminist protest from the Arab Levant: digital mirroring and transregional dialogue. Critical Discourse Studies 19(5): 502–522. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2021.1999291
Fabrício, Branca Falabella (2022) Language, gender and sexuality in 2021: hopeful futures amidst sound and fury. Gender and Language 16(2): 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.23322
Francisco, Gay Marie Manalo (2023) The Magna Carta of Women as the Philippine translation of the CEDAW: a feminist critical discourse analysis. Critical Discourse Studies 20(3): 294–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2022.2102518
Hekanaho, Laura (2022) A thematic analysis of attitudes towards English nonbinary pronouns. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(2): 190–216. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.21025.hek
Henderson, Elle Felicity (2022) ‘So, it’s not necessarily about exclusion’: category use in naturally occurring transphobic talk. Journal of Language and Discrimination 6(2): 213–240. https://doi.org/10.1558/jld.21376
Heritage, Frazer (2022) Politics, pronouns and the players: examining how videogame players react to the inclusion of a transgender character in World of Warcraft. Gender and Language 16(1): 26–51. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.20250
Jones, Lucy (2022) ‘I’m a boy, can’t you see that?’: dialogic embodiment and the construction of agency in trans youth discourse. Language in Society (First view): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404522000252
Jones, Lucy, Cha?upnik, Ma?gorzata, Mackenzie, Jai and Mullany, Louise (2022) ‘STFU and start listening to how scared we are’: resisting misogyny on Twitter via #NotAllMen. Discourse, Context & Media 47: 100596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2022.100596
Kolek, Vít (2022) Nonbinary Czech language: characteristics and discourse. Gender and Language 16(3): 265–285. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.20657
Konnelly, Lex, Bjorkman, Bronwyn M. and Airton, Lee (2022) Towards an engaged linguistics: nonbinary pronouns as a site of advocacy in research and teaching. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(2): 133–140. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.21024.kon
Lawford-Smith, Holly (2022) Gender-Critical Feminism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
López, Ártemis (2022) Trans(de)letion: audiovisual translations of gender identities for mainstream audiences. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(2): 217–239. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.20023.lop
Lumala, Masibo and Mullany, Louise (2020) Language, gender and leadership: applying the sociolinguistics of narrative and identity in East Africa. In Louise Mullany (ed.) Professional Communication: Consultancy, Advocacy, Activism 65–88. Cham: Springer.
Melendez, Sofia and Crowley, Archie (2022) Pronoun practices in the higher education classroom. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(2): 264–277. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.20022.cro
Montiel-McCann, Camila Soledad (2022) ‘It’s like we are not human’: discourses of humanisation and otherness in the representation of trans identity in British broadsheet newspapers. Feminist Media Studies (Online): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2022.2097727
Motschenbacher, Heiko (2022) Linguistic Dimensions of Sexual Normativity: Corpus-Based Evidence. London: Routledge.
Onanuga, Paul Ayodele (2022) Navigating homophobia and reinventing the self: an analysis of Nigerian digital pro-gay discourse. Gender and Language 16(1): 75–97. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.18778
Palomino-Manjón, Patricia (2022) Feminist activism on Twitter: the discursive construction of sexual violence and victim-survivors in #WhyIDidntReport. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 10(1): 140–168. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00049.pal
Peng, Altman Yuzhu, Wu, Chunyan and Chen, Meng (2022) Sportswomen under the Chinese male gaze: a feminist critical discourse analysis. Critical Discourse Studies (Online). https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2022.2098150
Pérez-Arredondo, Carolina and Cárdenas-Neira, Camila (2022) ‘The rapist is you’: semiotics and regional recontextualizations of the feminist protest ‘a rapist in your way’ in Latin America. Critical Discourse Studies 19(5): 485–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2021.1999288
Romano, Manuela (2022) Occupying the streets, occupying words: reframing new feminisms through reappropriation. Discourse & Society 33(5): 631–649. https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265221093649
Saguy, Abigail C. and Williams, Juliet A. (2022) A little word that means a lot: a reassessment of singular they in a new era of gender politics. Gender & Society 36(1): 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432211057921
Sauntson, Helen (2018) Language, Sexuality and Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Singh, Jaspal Naveel (2021) Language, gender and sexuality in 2020: forward Global South. Gender and Language 15(2): 207–230. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.20311
Strange, Louis (2022) Ní Saoirse go Saoirse na mBan: gender and the Irish language in the linguistic landscape of Ireland’s 2018 abortion referendum. Language in Society (First view): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404521001214
Velázquez-Lora, Lihit Andrea (2022) Including them and all the rest: gender-neutral pronouns in EFL class. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11(2): 240–250. https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.20025.vel
Yoong, Melissa (2022) ‘If your voice isn’t accepted, does it mean you stop talking?’: exploring a woman leader’s reversal of postfeminist confidence discourses. Gender in Management 38(2): 200–214. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-06-2022-0207
Zimman, Lal (2021) Beyond the cis gays’ cis gaze: the need for a trans linguistics. Gender and Language 15(3): 423–429. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.20883
Zottola, Angela and Borba, Rodrigo (2022) ‘Gender ideology’ and the discursive infrastructure of a transnational conspiracy theory. In Massimiliano Demata, Virginia Zorzi and Angela Zottola (eds) Conspiracy Theory Discourse 465–488. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
