Sexist Discourse

Abstract

Sexist discourse is “language in use,” either spoken words or written texts, which stereotypes or discriminates against a person or a group of people on the basis of their gender. Early feminist work on gender, sexism, and language began to show a connection between language and the (re)production of sexism. However, much of this work is now considered outdated by researchers because it perpetuated essentialist understandings of sexism as something inherent in particular words and utterances. As the influence of constructionism has grown, researchers across the social sciences and humanities have come to view linguistic meanings as fluid rather than fixed, and as dependent on the social context in which they are embedded. A number of methodological approaches such as critical discourse analysis, discursive psychology, and conversation analysis are used to show how sexism is (re)produced through discourse in various contexts, either overtly or indirectly.