Gendered representations in swearing: bitch and bastard in the spoken BNC2014

Complexity and complex challenges call for leadership that enables people to collaborate and create across diverse forms of knowledge, backgrounds, and perspectives. The challenge is that complexity and differences challenge dominant masculine leadership norms and conventional problem-solving practices, which generates tension. These tensions are affective—and more often than not, they divide rather than connect people. This dissertation points to the heart of a complex tension dynamic that exemplifies why efforts to adapt to pressures for increased gender diversity in leadership positions across private companies in Denmark are not automatically transformed into relational leadership practices that connect different people, different thinking, and different bodies This dissertation argues that complexity requires leadership that embraces tension as a constructive potential—both as a driver of adaptation and as a force that can challenge dominant leadership practices. Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT), to some extent, builds on this foundation by conceptualizing adaptation to complexity as the process of conflicting and connecting amidst tension, which leads to adaptive outcomes. However, while CLT emphasizes the productive role of tension, it does not account for the embodied and affective tensions that emerge when leadership norms are challenged—tensions that shape whether people enter into the potential of tension or whether they shut tensions down and turn away. On this basis, the dissertation explores: What it takes to enable the process of connecting amidst tensions that emerge in pressures for gender diversity in leadership in the context of Denmark, how norms of gender and leadership are sustained, and how the interplay between gendered leadership norms and affective encounters shapes responses to tension. CLT forms the metatheoretical entry point for examining how tensions generated by pressures for gender diversity can serve as catalysts for adaptive change. To support my point that adaptation requires a multi-level understanding of tension to both encompass a view on tension as a pressure to adapt, and as a potential to unsettle norms that keep dominant structures in place, I integrate my metatheoretical with a spatial metaphor and definition of tension as a “tensile structure”—tent-like constructions that depend on tensions between poles to generate structural strength, and resilience thereby creating space and openness for alternative approaches. Combining these perspectives enables an understanding of tension as both a driving force for adaptation and a space that broadens the potential to challenge prevailing leadership practices. To broaden CLT’s conceptualization of tension to include normative and affective dimensions, this dissertation integrates this metatheoretical foundation with affect theory and post-structuralist feminist perspectives on norms and their performativity. Together, this integrated theoretical foundation enables an inquiry into how the complex interplay between gendered expectations of leadership, the performativity of norms, and affective dynamics shapes responses to the tensions that emerge under pressures for increased gender diversity in leadership. In doing so, the dissertation offers insight into the relational processes that either facilitate or hinder the constructive engagement of difference and tension in the context of complexity. Through an affective ethnographic approach to research, the dissertation highlights how normative, sensory, and embodied experiences shape relational dynamics and emotional responses to tension. This process is based on qualitative interviews with people working primarily in leadership positions across Danish private-sector organizations, combined with informal conversations, everyday interactions, and the researcher’s affective experiences and responses in the field. The findings reveal how tensions surrounding leadership and gender diversity manifest as both normative forces, affective currents, and embodied reactions. At the same time, they demonstrate that such tensions often reinforce dominant gendered understandings of leadership, yet affective tensions can also open space for connection and the emergence of alternative perspectives. Enabling such connection requires noticing when and how affective tensions shape our responses, and being willing to stay with the sensory and vulnerable states that arise when normative structures are unsettled. This suggests that complexity leadership is not only a matter of structure and decision-making in tension-filled contexts but also a matter of affective and embodied presence in relational processes. Consequently, this dissertation offers an affective, embodied expansion of CLTs concept of the adaptive process. It also contributes methodologically to advancing an affective approach to leadership research—one that extends critical thinking with critical feeling, and thereby brings the sensing body, affect, and emotion into play alongside discursive elements. In doing so, it advances an approach to studying leadership that foregrounds embodiment, affect, and emotion.

This article does not to seek a universal answer to the question of what morality or public morals are; rather it focuses on the issue of morality as grounds for limiting constitutional rights and freedoms. We narrow the problem to constitutional practice, and in particular to the judgments of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, which settles disputes centered around the freedom of humans and public morals. Public morals as grounds for limiting personal rights or liberties rarely appear on the Constitutional Tribunal’s docket. The Constitutional Tribunal does not conduct philosophical, moralistic or ethical discussions in search of the meaning of public morals. Judges tend to apply the concept in an intuitive manner. We argue that they limit it to a folk understanding, which may be explained as follows: do good and avoid evil. Judges assign meaning to the public morals clause by referring to their own experiences or seek insight into morality in public opinion polls, which may not be a reliable source of knowledge about what is good and what is evil (the primacy of the “will of the majority”). Two difficult cases await the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal. Each of them concerns major ethical and moral dilemmas. The first one relates to eugenic abortion, which is legal in Poland under certain conditions, while the second one involves the relationships of homosexual couples, which are not currently subject to legalization. The Constitutional Tribunal is not ready to solve these cases, making uses of public morality as grounds for limiting constitutional rights and freedoms.

This study explores gender representation in Indonesian English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks for Junior High School under the Merdeka Curriculum, employing a corpus-assisted Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach. The research identifies gender-related references and analyzes positive and negative character constructions. The findings indicate a persistent gender imbalance, with male references appearing more frequently than female references in categories such as famous names, fictional names, ordinary names, and pronouns. Male characters are often portrayed with a mix of positive and negative traits, while female characters are predominantly depicted in a positive light. The study concludes that while progress has been made, there is still a significant need for more balanced and inclusive gender representation in educational materials. Addressing these imbalances is crucial for creating an equitable learning environment that reflects and promotes gender equality.

The article sets out a framework for analysing the way discourses construct legitimation for social practices in public communication as well as in everyday interaction. Four key categories of legitimation are distinguished: 1) ‘authorization’, legitimation by reference to the authority of tradition, custom and law, and of persons in whom institutional authority is vested; 2) ‘moral evaluation’, legitimation by reference to discourses of value; 3) rationalization, legitimation by reference to the goals and uses of institutionalized social action, and to the social knowledges that endow them with cognitive validity; and 4) mythopoesis, legitimation conveyed through narratives whose outcomes reward legitimate actions and punish non-legitimate actions. Examples are drawn from texts legitimating or de-legitimating compulsory education, including children’s books, brochures for parents, teacher training texts, and media texts.

Western societal norms have long been constrained by binary and exclusionary perspectives on matters such as infertility, contraception, sexual health, sexuality, and gender. These viewpoints have shaped research and knowledge frameworks for decades and led to an inaccurate and incomplete reproductive biology curriculum. To combat these deficiencies in reproductive systems-related education, our teaching team undertook a gradual transformation of unit content from 2018 to 2023, aiming to better reflect real diversity in human reproductive biology. This initiative involved intentional modifications, including clear use of pronoun self-identification by staff. We addressed the historical lack of representation of genital variation and helped students interrogate oversimplified reproductive biology binaries. A novel assignment was also introduced, prompting students to apply reproductive physiology knowledge to propose innovative assisted reproductive technology solutions for diverse demographics. The collective impact of these innovations had a positive effect on student learning. With improved lecture content and inclusive language, the proportion of inclusive group assignment topics chosen by students more than doubled in 2021. By 2022, coinciding with assessment topic changes, the percentage of inclusive assignments topics surpassed 50%. Further development of laboratory activities on intersex genital variation and genital modification raised further understanding of genital, sexual, gender, and cultural diversity. While implementing these changes posed challenges, pushing both staff and students out of their comfort zones at times, collaboration with relevant organizations and individuals with lived experience of queer identity proved integral. Ultimately, these relatively simple adjustments had a substantial impact on student experiences and appreciation for diversity.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We outline the teaching innovations that we have implemented to improve inclusion of diversity in reproductive biology and physiology contexts. This includes improved representation of genital, sexual, and gender diversity considerations in the curriculum. There is a critical need for these innovations as how we teach fundamentally shapes the understanding of our future medical and health professionals and researchers and thus influences the quality of future medical care and research.

The article identifies the moral values of professional activity in information society on the basis of the systematic approach. Informatization of society in the 21st century entered a new stage of its development. The new information environment aims at forming certain ideological and axiological priorities, according to which the value characteristics of information society change and reproduce. One of the most important value areas in information society is professional activity, whose moral values - mutual responsibility, loyalty to duty, tolerance, decency, and focus on cooperation - develop during personal professionalization. Subsequently, in the course of professional work, professional conscience, duty, responsibility, dignity, tact, etc. develop. Professionalism is the most important moral value of professional activity; however, it should not be limited to the sum of professional knowledge and skills. A true professional has a developed, based on value orientations, moral culture, deep understanding of his professional duty, the most scrupulous attitude to professional honor, a high degree of professional responsibility. The success of his activities, the integrity of his personality, and his creative self-expression in the chosen profession depend on his professional and moral principles - their unity and consistency. The task of forming the professional values of an employee is an essential component of personal professionalization in order to achieve an optimal combination of traditional and creative elements, of specific professional experience and public morality. From the ethical perspective, professionalism in the ability to ensure harmony of professional activity and its moral evaluation, readiness for worthy deeds in any professional situations.

This paper examines how gender is represented within conspiracy theories by drawing on data from a corpus composed of conspiracy theory documents. It presents an analysis of the collocates of gendered nouns, highlighting the ways that conspiracy theorists use language to reinforce connections between religiosity and masculinity and understandings of femininity that rely on biological gender essentialism. Further, this paper highlights the overlap in values between religious masculinity and hegemonic masculinity that occur within this discourse. It also argues that the ways in which gender is represented in conspiracy theory discourse shares links to far-right ideology, even when the conspiracies in question do not have direct or overt connections to the far-right.

Despite increasing global awareness of gender equity, research on how English textbooks shape students’ perceptions of gender remains limited in Indonesia. This study examines the linguistic and visual gender portrayals in two government-issued English textbooks for Grade X and XI senior high school students (revised 2017 editions), which are widely used nationwide. Using a qualitative content analysis integrated with critical discourse analysis, the study systematically analyzed all textual and visual elements, including dialogues, narratives, exercises, and illustrations, guided by established frameworks for evaluating gender representation. Quantitative coding documented frequency and types of gender representation, while discursive interpretation examined how language and images construct social meanings. Findings reveal 404 textual and 201 visual gender representations: although textual mentions in Grade X show near parity (35% male; 35% female), Grade XI reflects male predominance (43.5% vs. 33.5%), and visuals overall favor male visibility (43.7%). Female figures are disproportionately associated with domesticity, emotional expression, and limited occupations, whereas males appear in more diverse, agentive, and authoritative roles. Gendered language reinforces these patterns through masculine generics and adjectives emphasizing appearance for females and intellect for males. These findings suggest that while attempts at balance exist, textbooks continue to reproduce traditional gender ideologies. The study contributes a nuanced understanding of how school materials reflect and shape sociocultural norms and offers implications for textbook design and educational policy to foster inclusive and equitable gender representation aligned with SDG 5.

This paper investigates the relationship between gender bias and educational materials for teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the Saudi EFL context by drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA). The paper's objective is twofold: first, to explore the extent to which females are biased in the discourse of four EFL textbooks and the various reasons and ways of this biased gender representation. Second, to show the extent to which the disproportion of female gender representation is due to cultural values or to the gender bias of the textbooks’ authors. The study uses a qualitative critical discourse analysis to investigate four EFL textbooks used in Saudi Arabia. The analytical focus is on five topics: (a) gender visibility, (b) gender importance in sequences, (c) gender representation in occupations, (d) gender-attributed traits and (e) the relationship between both genders. Findings reveal that the selected EFL textbooks contain gender-stereotyped scenarios that are in favor of the male gender. Women are portrayed as stereotyped and marginalized as a result of this disparity. The study concludes that the four EFL textbooks used in Saudi Arabian schools displayed gender-biased content and recommends reevaluating the EFL textbooks to be gender-biased-free.

This study investigates gender representation in the Indonesian senior high school English textbook Pathway to English for Grade 12 (2017) using Fairclough’s (2010) Critical Discourse Analysis, Gender Representation Theory, and Multimodality Theory. The analysis of ten purposively selected samples shows a clear imbalance: male characters appear more often and are portrayed in active, authoritative roles, while female characters are less visible and frequently confined to passive or supportive positions. Although a few instances highlight women in empowered roles, these are marginal and overshadowed by dominant patriarchal narratives. The findings indicate that the textbook perpetuates traditional gender ideologies rather than challenging them, emphasizing the need for more gender-sensitive educational materials that provide equitable role models for learners. Keywords: Gender representation; critical discourse analysis; English textbook;

According to definitions put forward by modern Western scholars, personal morality refers to conduct or qualities that concern only oneself and do not involve others. In ancient China, however, most virtues were not purely individual matters but were closely tied to one’s attitudes toward others. As for public morality, traditional Chinese society did possess certain forms of it, but these differed from the public ethics and etiquette as understood in modern social and civic life. Liang Qichao was influenced by Japan’s modern emphasis on public morality, but his advocacy for “public morality” focused primarily on civic morality, namely political morality, whereas Japan’s approach centered on general social morality. Although civic and social morality can both be understood as “public morality,” a stable and mature modern society relies more fundamentally on the latter to maintain order. China’s unique modernization trajectory has led to an overemphasis on political-civic morality, overshadowing the conceptual development and societal promotion of social ethics. The core issue lies in how political morality has replaced, marginalized, and even abolished personal morality, while social morality has been similarly neglected. This has disrupted the proper balance between political, social, and private morality. To rethink contemporary moral discourse in China, it is imperative to restore the independence and significance of personal morality, while actively cultivating a culture of social morality.

Determining the depth of discrimination against gender and sexual minority groups in Catholic schools of selected western nations is best undertaken from an international-comparative perspective. In this article, we compare the Canadian case of Alberta’s ‘washroom wars’ and a ‘gender row’ over uniform changes in an Australian Catholic high school. In each case, practises inclusive of gender diversity in Catholic schools were framed as a departure from Catholic doctrine. To explore how oppressive structures exist and operate within schools, we examine media accounts of each case using Critical Discourse Analysis and contextualize this analysis by examining Canadian and Australian educational and legal settings. We find that despite differing legal frameworks, some Catholic schools continue to place Canonical law above the rights of transgender and gender-diverse students in both countries. We therefore argue that it is the Catholic system’s institutional stance on gender and sexual diversity that perpetuates discrimination.

Privacy is a critical challenge for corporate social responsibility in the mobile device ecosystem. Mobile application firms can collect granular and largely unregulated data about their consumers, and must make ethical decisions about how and whether to collect, store, and share these data. This paper conducts a discourse analysis of mobile application developer forums to discover when and how privacy conversations, as a representative of larger ethical debates, arise during development. It finds that online forums can be useful spaces for ethical deliberations, as developers use these spaces to define, discuss, and justify their values. It also discovers that ethical discussions in mobile development are prompted by work practices which vary considerably between iOS and Android, today’s two major mobile platforms. For educators, regulators, and managers interested in encouraging more ethical discussion and deliberation in mobile development, these work practices provide a valuable point of entry. But while the triggers for privacy conversations are quite different between platforms, ultimately the justifications for privacy are similar. Developers for both platforms use moral and cautionary tales, moral evaluation, and instrumental and technical rationalization to justify and legitimize privacy as a value in mobile development. Understanding these three forms of justification for privacy is useful to educators, regulators, and managers who wish to promote ethical practices in mobile development.

This present study investigates gender representation in an EFL textbook in Senior High Schools by using multimodal critical discourse analysis. The data is collected from the unit contents of the English Textbook by Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia 2017, which is used for senior high school and vocational high school. The study uses qualitative with Fairclough's three-dimensional framework to analyze the data collected. The focus variables include the frequency of gender representation and women's and men's social and domestic roles. The finding revealed that the EFL textbook was biased, imbalanced, and unequal for the position of male and female; for the frequency of gender representation in pictorial, males dominated around 25.6%, and females were only 11.6%. Then for gender representation in the passage text, the male was dominated by 46.3% and female was 34.3%. Next, for gender representation in conversation text, the male-dominated was 51.8%, and the female was 38.8%. The last one is gender representation in exercise text, the male-dominated by 31.33%, and the female was 40.97%. For the category of gender's social and domestic role, it revealed that males tend to do a social role associated with higher education and knowledge. At the same time, female is related to the traditional view in society that is associated with social status and hype only. Therefore, the result showed that the gender representation in this textbook was not represented equally.

This study explores the discursive presentation of queer and transgender identities in politically polarized ideology on Twitter, and how online ideology affects identity formation, inclusion and exclusion. Social media, and Twitter, in particular, have become the focal points of political discussion in which gender diversity is often challenged using polarized discourses. It is in this context that the study intends to analyze the effect of conflicting ideological standpoints in the linguistic coding of the concept of queer and transgender identities in political discourse. The study takes a quantitative corpus linguistics approach to Critical Discourse Analysis with a qualitative approach of discourse interpretation. The theoretical framework combines the Critical Discourse Analysis, Ideology and Discourse Theory and Queer Theory, which allows exploring the power, ideology, and gender performativity of online discourse. Public English-language political tweets are gathered by way of key word and hash tag searches on predetermined political period. The two comparable corpora used to represent the progressive and conservative ideological stands are constructed using a purposive and stratified method of sampling. Results indicate the definite ideological polarization of the manifestation of queer and transgender identities. These identities are largely legitimized by progressive discourses, using rights-based and inclusive frames; and often delegitimized by conservative discourses, using moral, ideological, and biological discourses. The paper concludes that polarized online discourse makes gender identity to become a symbolic location of ideological antagonism. The paper suggests more robust platform governance, counter-discourse that is comprehensive, and increased corpus-based research to be conducted in a variety of socio-political settings.