ABSTRACT
Bucholtz and Hall (2005: 470) define sexuality as ‘the systems of mutually constituted ideologies, practices and identities that give socio-political meaning to the body as an eroticized and/or reproductive site’. While we have discussed language, gender and sexuality at various stages already in this book, Bucholtz and Hall’s definition is a really useful starting point for this chapter dedicated to language and sexualities, as it brings together a focus on the conceptualisation of sexual identities as well as a focus on the erotic/desire. ‘Language and gender’ and ‘language and sexuality’ overlap significantly with one another. Sauntson (2008) points out that it is impossible to separate gender and sexuality from one another in feminist linguistic analysis. Bucholtz and Hall (2005: 471) argue that ‘sexuality and gender are most fruitfully studied in ways that explicitly acknowledge how they are imbricated in relations of power’.
