Books by Sara Mills

This book analyses the complex relationship between directness, indirectness, politeness and impoliteness. Definitions of directness and indirectness are discussed and problematised from a discursive theoretical perspective.

Gender Matters presents a feminist linguistic analysis of texts - literature, media and lyrics - and conversation. It explores how gender relates to and shapes our understanding of sexism, reading and writing, politeness and public speaking.

The issue of sexist language has been hotly debated within feminist circles since the 1960s. Previous books have tended to regard sexism in language as easy to identify and have suggested solutions to overcome and counter sexism. Sara Mills takes a fresh and more critical look at sexism in language, and argues that even in feminist circles it has become a problematic concept. Drawing on conversational and textual data collected over the last ten years, and with reference to recent research carried out in a range of different academic disciplines, Mills suggests that there are two forms of sexism - overt and indirect. Overt sexism is clear and unambiguous, while indirect sexism is based on pragmatics and the meaning and interpretation of utterances. Indirect sexism is extremely common and we therefore need new ways to challenge and analyse its usage in language.

Uses language study and linguistic theory to set the rationale for feminist text analysis. The book examines sexism, political correctness, reader positioning, narrative, agency, discourse, character and role analysis. It examines literary texts alongside newspapers, pop songs and advertisements.