A topic that has been interesting me lately has been gender and how it’s being perceived. With everything happening in the world today, everyone has a different view of everything. While reading this text, it occured to me that language in our everyday lives truly is structured towards the dichotomy of gender. There are so many small things that fall into each category without anyone realizing it.
I recommend this book to everyone just for the sake of education! There is such a diverse spectrum from gender to sexuality and this text assesses the concepts involved in it. From a purely curious standpoint, I chose this textbook and I am so glad that I did. It’s an interesting and intriguing book that made me think in a different way.
The official synopsis of the textbook is as follows: “Language and Gender is an introduction to the study of the relation between gender and language use, written by two leading experts in the field. This new edition, thoroughly updated and restructured, brings out more strongly an emphasis on practice and change, while retaining the broad scope of its predecessor and its accessible introductions which explain the key concepts in a non-technical way. The authors integrate issues of sexuality more thoroughly into the discussion, exploring more diverse gendered and sexual identities and practices. The core emphasis is on change, both in linguistic resources and their use and in gender and sexual ideologies and personae. This book explores how change often involves conflict and competing norms, both social and linguistic. Drawing on their own extensive research, as well as other key literature, the authors argue that the connections between language and gender are deep yet fluid, and arise in social practice.”
That’s my recommended book of the month! Thank you so much for reading and let me know if you have read this book or if you want to. The authors of this text did a great job with the second edition of Language and Gender and I can’t wait to continue reading it!
Love,
Kaitlin H Powell 