SPECIAL TOPICS

MODULE 1 → Language and Gender

AIM OF THIS MODULE
● To introduce students to the sociolinguistic field of gender.
● A field of study that is concerned with the use of language (both its powers and limitations)
through and with the lens of gender.
● Gender is a major part of who we are and why we behave in certain ways, and so it is
worthwhile to consider the many places where gender and language intersect.
● To reflect on the ways gender identities impact our communication and how our language
use impacts our gender performances.
KEY TERMS

1. Do men and women use language differently?

● Yes, men and women often use language differently, although it's important to note that
these differences are not universal and can vary widely among individuals. Research has
shown that there are differences in communication styles, vocabulary, and non-verbal cues
between genders. For example, some studies suggest that women tend to use more
tentative language, ask more questions, and use more affiliative or cooperative
communication, while men may use more assertive language and engage in more
competitive communication. However, these differences should not be overgeneralized, as
there is considerable variation within each gender.
2. What is sexism and is it expressed and transmitted through language?
● Sexism refers to discrimination, prejudice, or bias based on a person's sex or gender, often
leading to unequal treatment, opportunities, or expectations. Sexism can be expressed and
 transmitted through language in various ways, such as through derogatory terms,
stereotypes, sexist jokes, or language that reinforces traditional gender roles and
expectations. Language plays a significant role in shaping and perpetuating societal attitudes
and norms related to gender, and sexist language can contribute to the perpetuation of
harmful gender biases.
3. Will changing sexist language change attitudes?
● Changing sexist language can contribute to changing attitudes, but it is just one part of a
broader effort to combat sexism and promote gender equality. Language reflects and shapes
societal norms and values, so altering language can help raise awareness and challenge
harmful stereotypes. However, changing attitudes also requires education, awareness
campaigns, legal measures, and broader cultural shifts. Language alone may not be sufficient
to bring about comprehensive change.
4. How do representations of men and women in the media affect or ‘construct’ the understanding
we have of both sexes?
● Representations of men and women in the media can significantly influence our
understanding and perception of both sexes. Media portrayals can reinforce existing
stereotypes, expectations, and biases, or they can challenge and subvert them. The media
can shape how society views gender roles, body image, behavior, and the capabilities of men
and women. Positive and diverse representations can contribute to a more inclusive and
equitable understanding of gender, while negative or narrow portrayals can reinforce
harmful stereotypes.
5. Is there really an understanding?
● The understanding of men and women is complex and multifaceted, and it varies among
individuals and cultures. Society constructs many aspects of our understanding of gender
through cultural norms, values, and media representations. However, this understanding is
not fixed or uniform; it evolves over time and can be influenced by various factors, including
education, personal experiences, and exposure to diverse perspectives. Achieving a more
comprehensive and inclusive understanding of gender often requires critical reflection, open
dialogue, and efforts to challenge and change stereotypes and biases that may exist in
society.
Before delving into key theoretical concepts… → A critical reading / analysis of texts (Going
beyond the surface meaning of a text)

PRACTICE FOR THE FINAL EXAM

TEXT ANALYSIS 1.

A. How do language and gender intersect?

● In this conversation, language and gender intersect through the speakers' discussion of a
classmate's clothing choices and physical appearance. They use terms like "gay" and make
comments about the classmate's clothing being similar to what women volleyball players
wear. These comments suggest a connection between clothing choices and stereotypes
about gender and sexuality.
● CATEGORY → label (gay)
category (noun), category - bound predicate (adjective), category - bound activity (verb)
B. What are the speakers doing (not saying)?
● They are criticizing their peer because it seems that he doesn’t “fit” into their own category.
Constructing their own identity / just to project his identity ‘being different for them’ /
opposed to the category of MAN → AIM: to construct their own identity / gender ideology:
essentialist
● The speakers are engaging in casual conversation, specifically discussing the clothing choices
and appearance of a classmate. They are making observations, speculations, and humorous
remarks about the classmate's fashion sense and physical attributes.
C. Is there anything problematic in this interaction?
● Yes, there are problematic aspects to this interaction. The conversation includes derogatory
language and stereotyping. The use of the term "gay" as a derogatory descriptor and making
assumptions about someone's sexuality based on their clothing choices is problematic and
offensive. Additionally, the comments about the classmate's appearance, such as his legs
and clothing, can be seen as body-shaming and disrespectful.
D. Anything that caught your attention?
 ● The use of derogatory language and stereotypes caught my attention. It's important to note
that such language and stereotypes can contribute to a negative and discriminatory
environment, and it's crucial to promote respectful and inclusive communication.
E. What type of text is it? Where can we find it?
● The text is not attributed to a specific source, so it could be a transcription of a conversation
that occurred in a personal setting, such as between friends or classmates. It may have been
recorded or transcribed for various purposes, including analysis or discussion of language
use and stereotypes.

TEACHER ANSWERS:
1. How do Bryan and Ed ‘demonstrate’ that certain individuals are ‘the antithesis of man’ in
and through the conversation?
2. Does this excerpt bear out generalizations about men’s talk?
● “rapport talk” versus “report talk”
● Main point: gossip about a subject that is conventionally “feminine” - clothing and bodily
appearance
● The conversation serves one of the most common purposes of gossip: affirming the
solidarity of an in-group by constructing absent others as an out-group.
● In order to demonstrate that certain individuals are “the antithesis of man”, Bryan and Ed
engage in a kind of conversation that some would describe as “women’s talk”; not “men’s
talk”.
● This sequence clearly resembles conventional notions of ‘women’s talk’, mainly as regards
its purpose and subject-matter.
● This is talk about people, not things. This is “rapport talk” rather than “report talk” - the
main point is clearly not to give information; it is gossip.
3. What does it mean to be ‘gay’, according to Ed and Bryan?
→ (unconventional beaviour; difference from the norm) / (match; be equal to, ‘estar al nivell’)
● The deviance indicated by this group by the term ‘gay’ is not so much SEXUAL deviance as
GENDER deviance.
● Being ‘gay’ is constructed as ‘failing’ to measure up to the group’s standards of masculinity
or femininity.
● ‘Gay’ refers in particular to insufficiently masculine appearance, clothing and speech (implicit
category - bound description of ‘gay’).

TEXT ANALYSIS 2.
—----------------------------

SEX versus GENDER → A distinction first articulated by the British feminist Anne Oakley, in 1972.
● SEX
○ Traditionally conceived as being biologically based, determined by our being born
male or female.
○ A matter of psychology.
○ As being essentially binary: one is either male or female
○ (Intersex people obviously challenge this traditional understanding of sex).
● GENDER
○ Not an innate feature.
○ It refers to the way(s) in which masculinity and femininity are enacted. It is a social
construct, a set of behaviours, related to our sex but distinct to it.
○ It is socially constructed, something learned from the environments that surround
us.
○ It refers to the different behaviours often (but not necessary) associated with our
biological sex.
○ Gender is NOT binary. One is not masculine or feminine, but is rather a combination
of many characteristics that could be understood as either or both.
○ We behave in certain gendered ways in various circumstances for a variety of
reasons, especially in regards to our sense of who we are - our personal identities
are agency.
■ Agency refers to one’s capacity to originate and direct one’s own actions in
response to the prevailing environment. It involves a sense of control,
 power and awareness of one’s self. Whether consciously or not, we enact
who are based largely on how others construct us - but, we also reveal
ourselves through our own sense of personal agency (Jule, 2017:8).

Judith Butler’s understanding of gender - The notion of PERFORMATIVITY

● Born in 1956
● Professor at the University of California, Berkeley
● Best known for the books through which she challenges conventional notions of gender and
develops her theory of gender performativity
According to the video, what does it mean that “gender is performative”?
● Butler claims that gender is a performance and she calls this “gender performativity”.
● “Gender” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities and attributes that a
given society considers appropriate for men and women.
● In this sense, “male” and “female” are sex categories, whereas “masculine” and “feminine”
are gender categories.
○ “Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly
rigid regulatory framework that congeal over time to produce the appearance of
substance, of a natural sort of being.” (Gender Trouble) → exam quote

Question: What does it mean that gender is performative?

It’s one thing to say that gender is performed and that is a little different from saying gender is
performative. When we say gender is performed we usually mean that we’ve taken on a role or
we’re acting in some way and that our acting or our role playing is crucial to the gender that we are
and the gender that we present to the world. To say that gender is performative is a little different
because for something to be performative means that it produces a series of effects. We act and
walk and speak and talk in ways that consolidate an impression of being a man or being a woman.

Socially constructed → the gender is culturally formed, since society thought some behaviors are
normative = correct / well seen
domain of freedom → AGENCY

Performativity means conceding identity as an act of performing

● the way we think about gender is a social construct

● essentialist ideology = having a vagina means to be quiet or submissive
 ● What is normative is correct or even appropriate, but this is not true, this is only the way
society think
● Gender, age, race, religion, social class… are part of our identity
● People believe in masculinity and femininity → but it makes no sense, we can be a
combination of both → being aware of or society frame
● YOU ARE FREE, but you have be aware of the norms, so you will have a combination of
consequences because society keep believing that is not natural, so you will be judged /
believe of that dichotomy
● Mindset → if you marry a woman, who will be the father of the family?
● CRITICAL THINKING = CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (CDA) → The aim is to move beyond
the literal meaning of the texts
EXAM QUOTE
1. “Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid
regulatory framework that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of
a natural sort of being.” (Gender Trouble)

2. “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” (Simone de Beauvoir, 1973)
● distinct between sex and gender → you are born male or female

Talk about performativity when we define gender

Performativity, in the context of gender theory, refers to the idea that gender is not simply an
inherent or fixed characteristic, but rather something that individuals actively perform and construct
through their actions, behaviors, and expressions. This concept was popularized by Judith Butler, a
prominent gender theorist.

According to Butler, gender is a social construct that is continually created and reinforced through
repeated performances of gender roles and norms. These performances are not merely expressions
of an existing gender identity but play a crucial role in shaping and defining one's gender identity. In
other words, we "do" gender through our actions and interactions.

For example, the way we dress, the language we use, and the behaviors we engage in are all
performative acts that contribute to the construction of our gender identity. Society often expects
individuals to conform to specific gender norms, and when people deviate from these norms, it can
disrupt conventional ideas of gender.
Performativity challenges the traditional binary understanding of gender (male/female) and
highlights its fluid and socially constructed nature. It suggests that rather than trying to fit individuals
into predefined gender categories, we should recognize and respect the diverse ways in which
people perform and express their gender.

Question: How should this notion of gender performativity change the way we look at gender?
Think about how difficult it is for sissy boys or how difficult it is for tomboys to function socially
without being bullied or without being teased or without sometimes suffering threats of violence or
without their parents intervening to say maybe you need a psychiatrist or why can’t you be normal.
So there are institutional powers like psychiatric normalization and there are informal kinds of
practices like bullying which try to keep us in our gendered place.

THREE LEVELS OF CDA:

● TEXT - DISCOURSE - IDEOLOGY
○ What are the characteristics of the text? (FORM)
○ What is the intention of the writer/speaker? How is the writer/ reader positioned?
(SUBJECT POSITIONS)
○ What ideology do we find behind this text? What are the consequences of
consuming this text uncritically?

MCA (MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIZATION ANALYSIS)

(An ethnomethodological approach to the study of gender and interaction) which analyzes how we
members of society we categorize them → people/method/study (language is the method) analyze
how people talk to other people
● Conversation analysis has made a major contribution to discussions about language and
gender
● With the move from the view of the role of language:
○ 1. As a reflection of social reality.
○ 2. To a view of the role of language in the construction of reality
● Harvey Sacks (1972, 1992)
● Focus on those categories in the language in terms of which persons may be classified.
What is MCA?
 ● MCA is an analytical apparatus (an ethnomethodologically-oriented method), allowing us to
systematize the method(s) that people use to construct ‘social’ reality.
○ How do people use CATEGORIES in their talk?
○ How is meaning (category-bound knowledge) negotiated in INTERACTION?
○ What does the use of certain categories tell us about INFERENCE-RICHNESS’?
■ Categories are associated with certain predicates, the prototypical actions
and attributes that members can be expected to perform or possess, as well
as rights and obligations (Hester & Egin, 1997). That is why categories are
deemed “interference-rich”.
■ Categories are “the store house and the filing system” for our “common-
sense knowledge” about “what people are like [and] how they behave”
(Schehloff, 2007:469). We are not talking about reality; but about how
people understand and, thus, construct it.
○ In what way(s) in the use of categories related to the construction of one’s IDENTITY
and that of others?
… Origins …
● Harvey Sacks (1972) and ‘The Baby Cried’ paper.
● He found the following two sentences as the opening of a story written by a child:
‘The baby cried. The mommy picked it up’.
● There is nothing in logic or pragmatics to tell us that the mommy is the baby’s mommy.
● Still less that she picked up her baby because it cried.
● Yet these are two judgements that we make automatically.
● Implicit category-bound description of ‘mommy’ - our common-sense knowledge about the
members belonging to the category “mommy”.
FIVE GUIDING PRINCIPLES
1. Collect data (both interactional and textual depending on the focus of the study).
● In your case, the data collection is purposive (not unmotivated): you gather together
instances of particular categories in use because of an a priori interest in that
category).
2. Build collections of:
● explicit mentions of categories (e.g. Man, human, anarchist, teacher, lesbian…) and
category-resonant descriptions or attributes that ‘allow’ them to be members of
that particular category.
 3. Locate the sequential position of each categorial instance with the ongoing interaction, or
within the text.
4. Analyse the design and action orientation of the turn or text in which the category or
resonant description appears.
5. Look for evidence that, and of how, recipients orient to the category or resonant
description (how do interlocutors build and/or resist categorizations? Alignment?
Misalignment? Negotiation)
THREE CATEGORIES