Language and the politics of gender

Levon, Erez (2015). Language and the politics of gender. In: Whelehan, Patricia; Bolin, Anne (eds.) The international encyclopedia of human sexuality (pp. 649-719). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell 10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs259

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Language enters into the politics of gender in two ways. First, because it underpins all social interaction, language is a site of contestation over the gendered order and the power relations that sustain it. Individuals, particularly those in structurally marginalized position in society, are able to vary their language use as a way of asserting power or authority. In so doing, these individuals co‐opt the cultural value normatively associated with different forms of language in an effort to better the material conditions of their lives. The second way in which language enters into the politics of gender is in the establishment of cultural gender categories in the first place, particularly those associated with dominant discourses of nationalism. Because of its unique performative capacity, language is often the medium through which gendered national imaginaries are enacted and reproduced. Language thus also participates in the creation of national systems of gender stratification.

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