Language and Sexuality (review)

Within linguistics, sexuality has received less attention than have other social factors. Deborah Cameron and Don Kulick note that their book is, in fact, the first introductory monograph to appear in the field. And perhaps for this reason, C&K have lofty goals. They want not only to reflect on the field but also to critique and broaden its focus (C&K describe their book as ‘a critical intervention’, 155). The volume is a textbook but at the same time a programmatic piece. While encapsulating all of these ambitions into a single slender volume is a challenge, C&K have produced an inclusive work which should stir debate.

The book is organized into six chapters. Ch. 1, ‘Making connections’, lays the groundwork for their social-constructionist approach. Fundamentally, C& K argue that ‘The language we have access to in a particular time and place for representing sex and sexuality exerts a significant influence on what we take to be possible, what we take to be “normal” and what we take to be desirable’ (12). The authors seek to explore this influence.

In Chs. 2 and 3, ‘Talking sex and thinking sex: The linguistic and discursive construction of sexuality’ and ‘What has gender got to do with sex? Language, heterosexuality and heteronormativity’, C&K investigate the relationship of sexuality to language on the one hand and gender on the other. They argue for a complicated, indirect indexical relationship between gender and sexuality, debunking the belief that heterosexuality is the ‘natural’ state of affairs (i.e. not a social construct). They also give several examples of how sexual identity and sexuality are historically variable, showing how the development of sexuality has been influenced by the language (e.g. labels) we use to represent it. In short, they give a more intricate picture of ‘sexuality’ than is often assumed in linguistic studies.

In Ch. 4, ‘Sexuality as identity: Gay and lesbian language’, and Ch. 5, ‘Looking beyond identity: Language and desire’, C&K focus on linguistic studies of identity, concluding that these studies have several significant problems. Most important among these, the authors accuse identity studies of (i) not recognizing that ideological linguistic resources can be used by all speakers, not just those who self-identify as gay or lesbian, and (ii) not addressing the more important and interesting issues: ‘fantasy, repression, pleasure, fear and the unconscious’ (105). Taking their cue from queer theory, C&K argue that there is no ‘gayspeak’, but there are ways of using language which defy normative conventions. Hence the terminological shift to the broader term ‘language and desire’.

C&K see several advantages to a focus on ‘desire’ rather than identity, including ‘acknowledgment’ that sexuality is centrally about the erotic, the ability to represent how erotic desire is expressed, and the ability to explore the role of the subconscious. These points have been controversial, in part due to the political importance of group identity. If C&K’s proposed path is followed, intentional, identity-based use of language would be pushed to the periphery of the field.

C&K do not deny, however, that (language and) sexuality studies are/should be political. In Ch. 6, ‘Language and sexuality: Theory, research and politics’, they suggest several areas for potential research which have political implications, including cross-cultural comparison; study of heterosexuality; a broadening of focus to include ethnicity, generation, class, and so forth; and a return to studying the construction of power in intimate relationships. While not everyone is likely to agree that identity deserves to be disregarded, by broadening the field, C&K seek to also make it more coherent.

In a roundabout way, herein lies the value of the book. C&K present a wide variety of qualitative case studies on language use throughout, and it is also clear that they have done their homework, liberally taking ideas from anthropology, sociology, radical feminism, queer theory, and psychoanalysis, among other disciplines. The volume is thus relevant well beyond the confines of...