Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Language and Sexuality
Vol. 8:2 (2019) ► pp.139–165

Discourses of (hetero)sexism in popular music

The legacy of Blurred Lines

| Nottingham Trent University, UK
| Sheffield Hallam University, UK

This article analyses interview data to explore how participants negotiated discourses of (hetero)sexism in relation to the controversial pop song Blurred Lines. Our previous work, based on questionnaire data, interrogated interpretations of Blurred Lines (Handforth, Paterson, Coffey-Glover & Mills 2017) and showed how participants drew on discourses of sexism in their responses. Several participants experienced significant conflict in their interpretations, and here we focus on these more complex interpretations, considering the “small stories” (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou 2008) identified in follow-up interviews with participants. Individual narratives acted as mechanisms through which participants linked Blurred Lines to wider issues such as rape culture, drawing parallels between these and their own lives. Following research in queer linguistics (King 2014; Leap 2014; Motschenbacher 2010) our use of thematic analysis, corpus linguistic tools and narrative analysis highlights the various subject positions that participants negotiated in their storytelling, and how these positions both echoed and challenged normative understandings of gender and sexuality.

Keywords: heterosexism, popular music, queer linguistics, discourses of sexism, corpus linguistics, narrative analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Studying reactions to sexism and popular music with queer linguistics
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Analytical framework: Corpus-assisted discourse analysis
      • 3.1.1Thematic analysis
      • 3.1.2Corpus linguistic tools
      • 3.1.3Narrative analysis
      • 3.1.4Combining quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Discourses of (hetero)sexism
      • 4.1.1Objectification
      • 4.1.2Unequal power relations
      • 4.1.3Rape culture
    • 4.2Narrative analysis
      • 4.2.1Retelling memories of Blurred Lines
      • 4.2.2Public and social spaces
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 August 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.18007.han
References
Baker, Paul
2006 Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
2014 Using Corpora to Analyze Gender. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Baker, Paul, Gabrielatos, Costas, KhosraviNik, Majid, Krzyżanowski, Michał, McEnery, Tony & Wodak, Ruth
2008 A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press. Discourse & Society 19(3): 273–306. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, Paul & Levon, Erez
2016 “That’s what I call a man”: Representations of racialized and classed masculinities in the UK print media. Gender and Language 10(1): 106–139. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bamberg, Michael
2009 Identity and narration. In Handbook of Narratology, Peter Hühn, John Pier, Wolf Schmid & Jorg Schönert (eds), 132–143. New York: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Bamberg, Michael & Georgakopoulou, Alexandra
2008 Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk 28(1): 377–396.Google Scholar
Bauman, Richard
2004 A World of Others’ Words: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Intertextuality. Oxford: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baxter, Judith A.
2010 Discourse-analytic approaches to text and talk. In Research Methods in Linguistics, Lia Litosseliti (ed), 117–137. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Beal, Joan C.
2009 “You’re not from New York City, you’re from Rotherham”: Dialect and identity in British indie music. Journal of English Linguistics 37(3): 223–240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Braun, Virginia & Clarke, Victoria
2006 Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brinkley, Elly
2013 Is Blurred Lines a ‘rapey’ song? The Wall Street Journal. [URL] (September 25 2016)
Bucholtz, Mary & Hall, Kira
2004 Theorizing identity in language and sexuality research. Language in Society 33(1): 469–515.Google Scholar
Burgess, Melinda C. R. & Burpo, Sandra
2012 The effect of music videos on college students’ perceptions of rape. College Student Journal 46(4): 748–763.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith
1990 Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
1993 Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cameron, Deborah
1992 Feminism and Linguistic Theory. Basingstoke: Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cameron, Deborah & Kulick, Don
2003 Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cobb, Michael D. & Boettcher, William A.
2007 Ambivalent sexism and misogynistic rap music: Does exposure to Eminem increase sexism? Journal of Applied Social Psychology 37(12): 3025–3042. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coffey-Glover, Laura
2015 Ideologies of masculinity in women’s magazines: A critical stylistic approach. Gender and Language 9(3): 337–363. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eckert, Penelope & McConnell-Ginet, Sally
1992 Communities of practice: Where language, gender and power all live. In Locating Power: Proceedings of the Second Berkeley Women and Language Conference, Kira Hall, Mary Bucholtz & Birch Moonwoman (eds), 89–99. Berkeley, CA: Berkeley University.Google Scholar
Edley, Nigel & Wetherell, Margaret
2008 Discursive psychology and the study of gender: A contested space. In Gender and Language Research Methodologies, Kate Harrington, Lia Litosseliti, Helen Sauntson & Jane Sunderland (eds), 161–173. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Edwards, Derek & Middleton, David
1986 Joint remembering: Constructing an account of shared experience through conversational discourse. Discourse Processes 9(1): 423–459. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Derek & Potter, Jonathan
1992 Discursive Psychology. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel
1972 The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving
1974 Frame Analysis. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Handforth, Rachel, Paterson, Laura, Coffey-Glover, Laura & Mills, Sara
2017 Reading between Blurred Lines: The complexity of interpretation. Discourse, Context & Media 201: 103–115. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jansen, Lisa & Westphal, Michael
2017 Rihanna works her multivocal pop persona: A morpho-syntactic and accent analysis of Rihanna’s singing style. English Today 33(2): 46–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Juzwik, Mary
2014 Spoken narrative. In The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis, James Paul Gee & Michael Handford (eds), 326–341. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kalof, Linda
1999 The effects of gender and music video imagery on sexual attitudes. The Journal of Social Psychology 139(3): 378–385. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kilgarriff, Aadam, Baisa, Vít, Bušta, Jan, Jakubíček, Miloš, Kovář, Vojtěch, Michelfeit, Jan, Rychlý, Pavel & Suchomel, Vit
2014 The Sketch Engine: Ten years on. Lexicography 1(1): 7–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
King, Brian W.
2014 Reclaiming masculinity in an account of lived intersex experience: Language, desire and embodied knowledge. In Language and Masculinities: Performances, Intersections, Dislocations, Tommaso Milani (ed), 220–242. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Koehler, Sezin
2013 From the mouths of rapists: The lyrics of Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines . The Society Pages. [URL] (September 9 2016)
Kreyer, Rolf
2015 “Funky fresh dressed to impress”: A corpus-linguistic view on gender roles in pop songs. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 20(2): 174–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, William
1972 Language in the Inner City. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Labov, William & Waletzky, Joshua
1967 Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. In Essays on the Verbal and Visual Arts: Proceedings of the 1966 Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society, June Helm (ed), 12–44. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Lai, Jennifer
2013 “ Blurred Lines” is cocky, yes. But rapey? No. Slate . [URL] (November 19 2016)
Leap, William L.
2014 Queer linguistics, sexuality, and discourse analysis. In The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis, James Paul Gee & Michael Handford (eds), 558–571. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Love, Robbie & Baker, Paul
2015 The hate that dare not speak its name? Journal of Language, Aggression and Conflict 3(1): 57–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lynskey, Dorian
2013  Blurred Lines: The most controversial song of the decade. The Guardian. [URL] (September 25 2016)
Mabry, Linda
2008 Case study in social research. In The Sage Handbook of Social Research Methods, Pertti Alasuutari, Leonard Bickman & Julia Brannen (eds), 214–228. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Makarechi, Kia
2013  Blurred Lines’ director Diane Martel defends music video against claims of misogyny. Huffington Post. [URL] (November 19 2016)
Mautner, Gerlinde
2009 Checks and balances: How corpus linguistics can contribute to CDA. In Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis, Michael Meyer & Ruth Wodak (eds), 122–143. London: Sage.Google Scholar
McEnery, Tony & Hardie, Andrew
2012 Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McRobbie, Angela
2007 Post-feminism and popular culture. Feminist Media Studies 4(3): 255–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mills, Sara
2008 Language and Sexism. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Motschenbacher, Heiko
2010 Language, Gender and Sexual Identity: Poststructuralist Perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013 “Now everybody can wear a skirt”: Linguistic constructions of non-heteronormativity at Eurovision Song Contest press conferences. Discourse & Society 24(5): 590–614. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Language, Normativity and Europeanisation: Discursive Evidence from the Eurovision Song Contest. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(ed) 2018 Corpus Linguistics in Language and Sexuality Studies: Developments and Prospects (special issue: Journal of Language and Sexuality 7.2). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Mulvey, Laura
1975 Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Screen 16(3): 6–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Murphy, Meghan
2014 ‘No, “female appreciation” is not the same thing as feminism. Feminist Current. [URL] (September 25 2016)
Potter, Jonathan & Wetherell, Margaret
1987 Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behaviour. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Riessman, Catherine
2005 Narrative analysis. In Narrative, Memory and Everyday Life, Christine Horrocks, Nancy Kelly, Kate Milnes, Brian Roberts & David Robinson (eds), 1–7. Huddersfield: University of Huddersfield Press.Google Scholar
Romano, Tricia
2013 “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke’s summer anthem, is kind of rapey. The Daily Beast. [URL] (September 9 2016)
Scott, Mike
2012 WordSmith Tools version 6. Stroud: Lexical Analysis Software.Google Scholar
Sunderland, Jane
2004 Gendered Discourses. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Charlotte
2016 Mock politeness and culture: Perceptions and practice in UK and Italian data. Intercultural Pragmatics 13(4): 463–498.Google Scholar
Thornborrow, Joanna
2014 Narrative analysis. In The Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis, James Paul Gee & Michael Handford (eds), 51–65. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wallis, Cara
2011 Performing gender: A content analysis of gender display in music videos. Sex Roles 64 (3–4): 160–172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Werner, Valentin
2012 Love is all around: A corpus-based study of pop lyrics. Corpora (7)11: 19–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Dashiell, Steven
2023. ‘You feel that?’ Examining gay porn discourse as hegemonic discursive soundtrack. Porn Studies 10:1 ► pp. 20 ff. DOI logo
Motschenbacher, Heiko
2021. Language and sexuality studies today. Journal of Language and Sexuality 10:1 ► pp. 25 ff. DOI logo
Oyebanji, Olubunmi Funmi
2023. Illegitimation of same-sex sexualities in news reports of selected Nigerian newspapers. Discourse & Society 34:3 ► pp. 273 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.