The Feminist Foundations of Language, Gender, and Sexuality Research

Abstract

The field of language, gender, and sexuality research has strong feminist roots. This chapter explores the varied forms of feminist thought and politics that have informed feminist linguistics for the past several decades. The chapter first examines difference feminisms, or theories that view the genders as fundamentally different from one another, including liberal, radical, and cultural feminisms; critical feminisms, which have introduced perspectives overlooked in difference approaches, including perspectives focused on class, race, and masculinities; and queer feminisms, which incorporate systematic attention to the relationship between gender and sexuality, including LGBT approaches, sex-positive feminism, and the poststructuralist feminism associated primarily with Judith Butler. The chapter concludes by suggesting that feminist linguistics may make its own contributions to feminist theory by integrating discursive and material theories of gender and sexuality.

Cite this

Mary Bucholtz (2014). The Feminist Foundations of Language, Gender, and Sexuality Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584248.ch1

@article{mary2014the,
  title  = {The Feminist Foundations of Language, Gender, and Sexuality Research},
  author = {Bucholtz, Mary},
  year   = {2014},
  doi    = {10.1002/9781118584248.ch1}
}

Citations in this library

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 82 citations exist upstream.

References