Introduction and Overview

About the lecture

In this module, we provide a broad introduction to language, gender and sexuality, focusing in particular on: (i) the work of Judith Butler and the concept of performativity; (ii) the work of Jane Sutherland and the importance of how people are represented linguistically; (ii) the problems associated with earlier approaches, such as that of Robin Lakoff and Deborah Tannen; (iii) the extent to which more recent approaches have challenged gender stereotypes as opposed to reinforcing them; (iv) the persistence of the 'traditional' view of gender differences, with best-sellers such as John Gray's 'Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus' (1992); (v) the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw and the concept of intersectionality; and (vi) some advice on constructing good research questions in the field of language, gender and sexuality.

About the 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).