Deborah Cameron & Don Kulick (eds.), The language and sexuality reader

Extract

Deborah Cameron & Don Kulick (eds.), The language and sexuality reader. London & New York: Routledge, 2006. Pp. 322. Pb $41.95.

This collection of articles represents a range of different takes on the subject of language, gender, and sexuality. The editors' definition of their project is deliberately broad: “the role played by language in producing and organizing sex as a meaningful domain of human experience” (p. 1). Accordingly, there are 23 articles organized into two unequal parts. The first is historical and takes up one-third of the book, while the second is contemporary and comprises the latter two-thirds. Each section is prefaced by a brief introduction providing the theoretical background informing the choice of texts. Overall, although occasionally lacking focus, the collection is intellectually stimulating, absorbing, and often downright enjoyable. For instructors teaching a course on language and gender, this reader would make a good starting place for class discussion, including as it does many key pieces on topics like verbally positioning oneself as heterosexual, the discourses of rape and resistance, and the creation of sexual identities among the ambiguously gendered.