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The hate that dare not speak its name?

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Abstract

This chapter uses corpus-based methods to explore how British Parliamentary arguments against LGBT equality have changed in response to decreasing social acceptability of discriminatory language against minority groups. A comparison of the language of opposition to the equalisation of the age of consent for anal sex (1998–2000) is made to the oppositional language in debates to allow same-sex marriage (2013). Keyword, collocation and concordance analyses were used to identify differences in overall argumentation strategies, assessing the extent to which previously explicit homophobic speech (e.g. homosexuality as unnatural) has been replaced by more indirect strategies (e.g. less use of personalised argumentation via the pronoun I). We argue that while homophobic language appears to be on the decrease in such contexts, there is a mismatch between words and acts, requiring analysts to acknowledge the presence of more subtle indications of homophobic discourse in the future.

Abstract

This chapter uses corpus-based methods to explore how British Parliamentary arguments against LGBT equality have changed in response to decreasing social acceptability of discriminatory language against minority groups. A comparison of the language of opposition to the equalisation of the age of consent for anal sex (1998–2000) is made to the oppositional language in debates to allow same-sex marriage (2013). Keyword, collocation and concordance analyses were used to identify differences in overall argumentation strategies, assessing the extent to which previously explicit homophobic speech (e.g. homosexuality as unnatural) has been replaced by more indirect strategies (e.g. less use of personalised argumentation via the pronoun I). We argue that while homophobic language appears to be on the decrease in such contexts, there is a mismatch between words and acts, requiring analysts to acknowledge the presence of more subtle indications of homophobic discourse in the future.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction
  4. Discourses of hate and radicalism in action 1
  5. Saying the unsayable 13
  6. Dehumanizing metaphors in UK immigrant debates in press and online media 41
  7. Mobilizing against the Other 57
  8. The hate that dare not speak its name? 99
  9. The paranoid style in politics 129
  10. The politics of being insulted 149
  11. Representing “terrorism” 171
  12. “Threatening other” or “role-model brother”? 193
  13. Political crisis and the rise of the far right in Greece 215
  14. Discursive violence and responsibility 243
  15. About the contributors 271
  16. Index 275
Contemporary Discourses of Hate and Radicalism across Space and Genres
This chapter is in the book Contemporary Discourses of Hate and Radicalism across Space and Genres
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.93.03lov

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction
  4. Discourses of hate and radicalism in action 1
  5. Saying the unsayable 13
  6. Dehumanizing metaphors in UK immigrant debates in press and online media 41
  7. Mobilizing against the Other 57
  8. The hate that dare not speak its name? 99
  9. The paranoid style in politics 129
  10. The politics of being insulted 149
  11. Representing “terrorism” 171
  12. “Threatening other” or “role-model brother”? 193
  13. Political crisis and the rise of the far right in Greece 215
  14. Discursive violence and responsibility 243
  15. About the contributors 271
  16. Index 275
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