Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:47:26.448Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Gendering the Unsaid and the Unsayable

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2019

By
Gregory Coles  and
Cheryl Glenn
Edited by
Amy Jo Murray  and
Kevin Durrheim
Amy Jo Murray
Affiliation:
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Kevin Durrheim
Affiliation:
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Get access

Summary

Rhetorical silences are not created equal. To determine the import of the unsaid, the power differential of gender (as conceptualized by gender theory) is methodologically indispensable. “Masculinity” and “femininity,” concepts related to presumptions of domination and subordination, affect the rhetorical function of the unsaid. Permitted-to-speak bodies are often already empowered; for them, the unsaid denotes and maintains their masculinist power. Subordinate bodies, from whom silence is expected, perform simply another iteration of a regulatory, disciplinary norm that considers them feminine or weak. Nevertheless, the gendering of dominant and subordinate roles does not erase the subversive possibilities of the unsaid. The masculine unsaid may be stripped of its power if an alternative hierarchy is introduced to challenge tacit assumptions of dominance. Meanwhile, the feminine unsaid may become a tool that defies hegemonic power structures by using the unsaid as a tactic for conveying forbidden ideas, stubbornly communicating the unsayable. Categories of the “masculine” unsaid, the subordinate unsaid, and the resistant unsaid offer valuable classifications for developing a comprehensive methodology of the unsaid. Yet these categories are not comprehensive within themselves or neatly discrete from one another. Rather, they are permeable, in constant engagement and renegotiation with one another.

Keywords

genderpowerrhetoricdominancesubordinationresistance
Type
Chapter
Information
Qualitative Studies of Silence
The Unsaid as Social Action
 , pp. 147 - 164
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acheson, K. (2008). Silence as gesture: Rethinking the nature of communicative silences. Communication Theory, 18, 535–555.Google Scholar
Ahmed, S. (2010). Foreword: Secrets and silence in feminist research. In Ryan-Flood, R. & Gill, R. (Eds.), Secrecy and silence in the research process: Feminist reflections (pp. xvi–xxi). London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Bhattacharya, H. (2009). Performing silence: Gender, violence, and resistance in women’s narratives from Lahaul, India. Qualitative Inquiry, 15(2), 359–371.Google Scholar
Bokser, J. K. (2006). The persuasion of Esther: A nun’s model of silent, seductive, violent rhetoric. In Bizzell, P. (Ed.), Rhetorical agendas: Political, ethical, spiritual (pp. 303–308). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Booth, E. T., & Spencer, L. G. (2016). Sitting in silence: Managing aural body rhetoric in public restrooms. Communication Studies, 67(2), 209–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, M. T. (2009). LGBT aging and rhetorical silence. Sexuality Research and Social Policy: Journal of NSRC, 6(4), 65–78.Google Scholar
Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cliff, M. (1978). Notes on speechlessness. Sinister Wisdom, 5: 5–9.Google Scholar
Clinton, H. R. (2017). What happened. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
CNN. (2018, March 24). Emma Gonzalez: Fight for your lives [Television broadcast]. Atlanta, GA: Turner Broadcasting System. Retrieved from www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/03/24/emma-gonzalez-full-speech-march-for-our-lives.cnnGoogle Scholar
Coles, G. (2017). Single, gay, Christian: A personal journey of faith and sexual identity. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.Google Scholar
de Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. (S. Rendall, Trans.). Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
de Lauretis, T. (1987). Technologies of gender: Essays on theory, film, and fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeFrancisco, V. L. (1991). The sounds of silence: How men silence women in marital relations. Discourse and Society 2, 413–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enoch, J. (2008). Refiguring rhetorical education: Women teaching African American, Native American, and Chicano/a students, 1865–1911. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Epstein, C. F. (1988). Deceptive distinctions: Sex, gender, and the social order. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Farmer, F. (2001). Saying and silence: Listening to composition with Bakhtin. Logan: Utah State University Press.Google Scholar
Fausto-Sterling, A. (1993, March 12). How many sexes are there? New York Times, p. A29. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com/1993/03/12/opinion/how-many-sexes-are-there.htmlGoogle Scholar
Fredriksen-Goldsen, K. I., Lindhorst, T., Kemp, S. P., & Walters, K. L. (2009). ‘My ever dear’: Social work’s ‘lesbian’ foremothers; A call for scholarship. Affilia, 24(3), 325–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gal, S. (1991). Between speech and silence: The problematics of research on language and gender. In di Leonardo, M. (Ed.), Gender at the crossroads of knowledge: Feminist anthropology in the postmodern era (pp. 175–203). Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Glenn, C. (1997). Rhetoric retold: Regendering the tradition from antiquity through the Renaissance. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Glenn, C. (2004). Unspoken: A rhetoric of silence. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Glenn, C. (2018). Rhetorical feminism and this thing called hope. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Glenn, C., & Ratcliffe, K. (Eds.). (2011). Silence and listening as rhetorical arts. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University PressGoogle Scholar
Hannah, K. (2015). The nightingale. New York: St. Martin’s PressGoogle Scholar
Johnson, N. (2002). Gender and rhetorical space in American life, 1886–1910. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Knowles, A. (2015). The gender of silence: Irigaray on the measureless measure. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 29(3), 302–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laqueur, T. (1990). Making sex. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Mao, L., & Young, M. (Eds.). (2008). Representations: Doing Asian American rhetoric. Logan: Utah State University Press.Google Scholar
McIntyre, A. (2000). Megawati Sukarnoputri: From president’s daughter to vice president. Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, 32(1–2), 105–112.Google Scholar
Miller, A. (1953). The crucible: A play in four acts. New York: Viking Press.Google Scholar
Mills, J. (2006). Talking about silence: Gender and the construction of multilingual identities. International Journal of Bilingualism, 10(1), 1–16.Google Scholar
Montoya, M. E. (2000). Silence and silencing: Their centripetal and centrifugal forces in legal communication, pedagogy and discourse. University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 33(3), 263–328.Google Scholar
Rowe, A. C., & Malhotra, S. (2013). Still the silence: Feminist reflections at the edges of sound. In Malhotra, S. & Rowe, A. C. (Eds.), Silence, feminism, power: Reflections at the edges of sound (pp. 1–22). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Royster, J. J., & Kirsch, G. E. (2012). Feminist rhetorical practices: New horizons for rhetoric, composition, and literacy studies. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Ryan-Flood, R., & Gill, R. (Eds.). (2010). Secrecy and silence in the research process: Feminist reflections. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Scott, J. W. (1988). Gender and the politics of history. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, M. (1979). Language structure and linguistic ideology. In Clyne, P., Hanks, W., & Hofbauer, C. (Eds.), The Elements (pp. 193–248). Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Trinh, T. M. (1986/1987). Difference: “A special Third World women issue.” Discourse, 8, pp. 11–37.Google Scholar
Vernant, Jean-Pierre. (1982). The origins of Greek thought. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. (Original work published 1962)Google Scholar
Wang., B. (2008). Rereading Sui Sin Far: A rhetoric of defiance. In Mao, L. & Young, M. (Eds.), Representations: Doing Asian American rhetoric (pp. 244–265). Logan: Utah State University Press.Google Scholar
Watts, R. J. (1997). Silence and the acquisition of status in verbal interaction. In Jaworski, A. (Ed.), Silence: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 87–116). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Weber, M. (1969). The theory of social and economic organization (A. M. Henderson & T. Parsons, Trans.). New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Ziv, D. (2001). Populist perceptions and perceptions of populism in Indonesia: The case of Megawati Soekarnoputri. South East Asia Research, 9(1), pp. 73–88.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×