5. Online Media

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we look at how gender and sexuality are constructed through language in online media, focusing in particular on: (i) corpus linguistics, including word frequencies, keywords and collocations; (ii) the work of Tommaso Milani on the representation of masculinity and femininity on the gay dating site Meetmarket; and (iii) the work of Jai Mackenzie and the representation of gender and parenthood identities on Mumsnet.

Studies referenced in this module:
– J. Mackenzie, Language, Gender and Parenthood Online: Negotiating Motherhood in Mumsnet Talk (2019)
– C. Myketiak, Online Sex Talk and the Social World: Mediated Desire (2020)
– E. L. Russell, Alpha Masculinity: Hegemony in Language and Discourse (2021)

Course

In this course, Professor Helen Sauntson (York St John University) explores language, gender and sexuality. In the first module, we provide an introduction to the field, including an overview of recent research. In the second module, we think about how gender and sexuality are constructed through language and other communicative practices used in advertising and product packaging, before turning in the third module to consider the language of gender and sexuality in the context of schools and classrooms. In the fourth module, we think about the representation of women in a particular news article, while in the fifth module, we look at how gender and sexuality are constructed through language in online media. Finally, in the sixth module, we think about structural inequalities in language and language use and examine the way that these inequalities produce discriminatory effects in terms of gender and sexuality.

Lecturer

Prof. Helen Sauntson is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at York St John University. Her main teaching and research interests are in the areas of classroom discourse analysis, language, gender and sexuality, language in education, and gender and sexuality in education. Her most recent publications include Language, Sexuality and Education (2018) and Researching Language, Gender and Sexuality: A Student Guide (2019).