ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a number of questions related to language and the various discursive formations that circulate within society. It focuses on pinpointing what people mean when talking about discourse, and working through its potentials as related to issues of power using the works of Michel Foucault in particular. The chapter also examines silences as interventions within discourse, and on the circulation of discourse within the Twittersphere, a vibrant, yet incredibly complex and conflicted, discursive community. Discourse was infused with power, and it produces knowledge and knowledge is always a weapon of power. Silence is a sign of disempowerment and suppression. Laverne Cox says how limited the range of trans characters has been in the past, consisting of characters who work in street economies such as sex work. The representation of transgender people is that they had a very limited voice within public discourses.
