Paul Baker's Sexed texts is intended as an introductory text for courses in language and gender/sexuality. Baker's approach differs from other introductions to the field(s) in both content and approach. Rather than treating gender and sexuality independently, Baker examines them in tandem, emphasizing the relationship between the two. While most works on language and gender focus on women and men having different linguistic patterns, Baker attempts to incorporate research on gender differences in language with the broader question of how language serves in producing normative understandings of both sexuality and gender.
Ch. 1 outlines the main themes of the work, discussing the relationship between gender and sexuality and raising issues of identity and power. This chapter also outlines the research methods involved in the text and discusses the political implications of research on language and gender/sexuality. In Ch. 2, Baker gives a historical overview of research on language and gender from Jespersen to the 1980s, including research on “gay language.” Baker presents the history of language and gender studies in a fairly traditional model that categorizes research within paradigms of deficit, difference, and dominance. Ch. 3 is divided into two broad sections. The first half introduces the idea of “communities of practice” and the second half introduces the performative construction of gendered identity. In Ch. 4, the focus shifts from different patterns of language use to the ways in which gendered discourse contributes to heteronormativity. Beginning with an examination of nursery rhymes, Baker examines the ways in which discourse serves to reproduce normative assumptions about gendered behavior. He then introduces the idea of compulsory heterosexuality as a way of linking gendered discourse with the social marginalization of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. The chapter ends with a discussion of research on heteronormative assumptions in social interactions and proposals for promoting inclusive language.
In Ch. 5, Baker examines hegemonic gender norms and the discursive erasure of nonnormative sexuality. The chapter first examines the ways in which hegemonic gender roles and heteronormative assumptions are reproduced in social interactions and then turns to an analysis of the use of terms related to sexuality in the British National Corpus. Ch. 6 examines the discursive commodification of gender identities and the use of gender/sexuality in marketing discourse. The chapter begins with an analysis of gendered discourse in brochures promoting plastic surgery. Baker then discusses the use of nonnormative discourse in marketing, including the appropriation of feminist discourses in advertising and the structure of marketing discourse targeting gay male and lesbian consumers. In Ch. 7, Baker introduces queer theoretical perspectives on identity. The chapter discusses debates surrounding the use of queer and then examines nonnormative heterosexual identities through an analysis of a tabloid article on an actress who dates younger men. The chapter concludes with a study on the use of bachelor and husband in the British National Corpus to examine the role of heterosexual marriage in the construction of sexual normativity. Ch. 8 focuses on taboo sexualities. Here Baker analyzes a newspaper article on pedophilia, discussions of infidelity in the popular media, and a website for a British swingers' organization. The chapter ends with an analysis of an erotic story about a “heterosexual” man having sex with gay men. The final chapter is a conclusion, summarizing the main themes of the earlier chapters.
Sexed texts is unique among introductory texts for a number of reasons. In addition to the way in which Baker links research on gender and sexuality, the text links research on gender differences in language use with language that serves in the social construction of gender. The attempt to link these lines of research has mixed results. Although the deficit-difference-dominance distinction is the most common way of characterizing research on gender differences in language use, the traditional model does not necessarily fit well with Baker's larger overall goal of linking questions of gender/sexuality with questions of power and the construction of identity. While the remainder of the book provides a challenge to traditional divisions within the field, the discussion of difference in Ch. 2 reproduces traditional divisions without challenging them. It would be interesting to see how Baker might have contextualized prior research in terms of normative discourses of gender across historical periods. However, in attempting to develop a dialogue between earlier research on women's language with contemporary questions of the discursive construction of heteronormativity, Baker challenges the traditional theoretical and pedadogical orientations within language and gender studies. This makes the work particularly promising as a teaching text because it raises new and interesting questions while still providing a useful introduction to the field.
Another innovative feature of the text is the way in which example data are included in the work. Although Baker presents data from prior research in some contexts, the book includes a much wider range of original data than one typically expects in an introductory text. The data are also drawn from highly diverse sources and methodological perspectives. Most of the chapters include conversational data, media texts, and some form of corpus analysis (typically from the British National Corpus). For each theoretical point, multiple forms of data and analytical methods are applied to illustrate a particular point. This combination of varied data sources and analytical approaches to related questions serves to reinforce the pervasiveness of gender and sexuality across contexts while simultaneously demonstrating multiple ways of analyzing the role of language in the social construction of gender and sexuality.
Baker's focus on the interactions between gender and sexuality provides an important perspective that contributes to understandings of both areas of research. Of course, the focus on sexuality and gender as points of social difference masks the degree to which both gender and sexuality are tied to other forms of difference, such as social class or ethnicity. However, the emphasis on the relationship between gender and sexuality provides an important perspective that could overcome problems in traditional courses on language and gender (that may give little attention to issues of sexuality). It is quite rare to find an introductory text that attempts to realign the research it surveys in order to question normative interpretations of the field it presents. Sexed texts would serve as an excellent text for introductory courses, particularly for instructors who want a text that will not simply review a body of research but also challenge students to question the dominant assumptions in the field.
