The DOI matches its Crossref record; 106 of the 106 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Making Gender Relevant: Conversation Analysis and Gender Categories in Interaction
Abstract
In this article, we critically evaluate a conversation analytic approach to the study of the links between gender and language from a feminist perspective. In so doing, we engage in the recent series of exchanges about conversation analysis (CA) and other strands of discourse analysis that have been published in Discourse & Society. We consider talk from two sets of discourse data, focusing on participants' orientation to gender categories as they crop up in the interactions. We suggest that a CA approach produces a rich understanding of the links between discourse and gender. However, we are critical of several, often unexamined aspects and conundrums of conversation analytic methodology. First, we consider the extent to which the `analytic stances' of feminism and conversation analysis are compatible. Second, we question whether, as Schegloff (1997) suggests, it is fruitful to rely on descriptions of and orientations to gender solely in participants' terms, as well as problematizing the notion of `orienting to gender' itself. Finally, while we propose CA is a useful tool for making claims about the relevance of gender in conversational interaction, and that such claims are grounded in speakers' orientations, we suggest that culture and common-sense knowledge, of both members and analysts, are largely unacknowledged and unexplicated resources in CA.
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“The offender makes gender relevant (Stokoe & Smithson, 2001) through the reference to 'my pussy'.”
From A discursive analysis of compliance, resistance and escalation to threats in sexually exploitative interactions between offenders and male children (2021) · cites this paper as Stokoe & Smithson, 2001
Citations
Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–212 of 212
‘Don’t I Have a Brain and Hands?’: Negotiating Gender in Mundane Interactions at Work
Chin, T.-F. (2018) · Gender, sexualities and culture in Asia · doi:10.1007/978-981-10-7365-6_4
Family displays in child–parent interaction
Ericsson, S. (2021) · Research on Children and Social Interaction · doi:10.1558/rcsi.12407
Nkwake, A. M. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33004-0_6
Kruk, B. (2020) · Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting · doi:10.14746/yplm.2020.6.7
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Should Conversational Agents Care About Our Gender Identity?
Cocchi, A., Bosse, T., & van Pinxteren, M. M. E. (2024) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-54975-5_9
Shirahata, M. (2025) · Qualitative Research in Psychology · doi:10.1080/14780887.2025.2485952
Exploring Group Learning in Higher Education Using Discourse Analsysis
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Whose story gets told? Gender, power, and participation in mathematics storytelling
Feng, F., & Zhao, Y. (2026) · Pedagogy Culture and Society · doi:10.1080/14681366.2026.2626979
Future gender in pediatric transgender and DSD/intersex consultations: a conversation analysis
Breukelman, M., Stommel, W., Verhaak, C. M., & Oerlemans, A. (2026) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119100
Klatt, M., Gülich, E., & Pfänder, S. (2026) · Langage et société · doi:10.3917/ls.187.0165
Metadata
- Authors
- STOKOE, E. H., & SMITHSON, J.
- Affiliations
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE WORCESTER
- Manchester Metropolitan University (GB)
- Venue
- Discourse & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2001-03
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 217-244
- ISSN
- 0957-9265 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-3624
- OpenAlex
- W2170216584
- Cited by
- 214
- References
- 106
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 85.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Discourse & Society (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Studies in Language
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
- Keywords
- gender and language, conversation analysis, feminist discourse analysis, gender categories, commonsense knowledge
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