T(w)een sexting and sexual behaviour: (d)evaluating the feminine other

ABSTRACT

This study explores the gendered discourses of youth sexualities. More specifically, it reports on research examining t(w)een girls’ discursive construction and negotiation of their femininities in the context of sexting. Using a qualitative method, the study attempts to contribute to the understanding of the multidimensionality of femininity. In order to do so, it brings femme theory into focus and contributes to its growth by analysing tween and teen girls’ discursive positionings when narrating their sexting experiences. The results give evidence of the pervasiveness of femmephobia and draw attention to the fact that the use of specific linguistic strategies not only allow the participants in the study to occupy different femininities in their narratives, but also to regulate the in-group and out-group sexualities. Furthermore, the presence of coercive language provides a clearer understanding of the cultural devaluation of femininity.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical femininities
• sexting
• devaluation of femininity
• choice
• femme theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article

Notes

1. The term utterance refers ‘to complete communicative units, which may consist of single words, phrases, clauses and clause combinations spoken in context’ (Carter & McCarthy, 2006, p.17).

Additional information

Funding

The present study was financially supported by a grant from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. This article is part of the long-term research „Persuasion in Promotional Discourse: Linguistic resources and communication strategies„..

Notes on contributors

Antonio García-Gómez

Antonio García-Gómez is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain, where he teaches discourse analysis and functional linguistics. He holds a PhD in Linguistics from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His expertise lies primarily in discourse analysis and discursive psychology. Professor García-Gómez’s first and most developed research interest is conflict talk. A main strand of his research has focused on the study of gender, identity and language use in new media. He has published numerous articles and authored two books. He presents regularly at conferences across Spain and Europe.