Discourse analysis has become a popular approach to research across the social sciences, and a particularly important tool for feminist psychologists. This study examines a range of discourse analytical work in psychology from a feminist perspective. It constitutes a thorough critical evaluation of this approach for the feminist project of intellectual, social and political change. Researchers explore the benefits and contradictions of discourse analysis and consider its value for feminist psychology. The first part of the text illustrates the application of discourse analysis to four key topics of feminist concern: adolescent knowledge about menstruation, sexual harassment, gendered representations of childhood, and anorexia nervosa. The second part contains five assessments of the usefulness of discourse analysis - both as theory and as method - for feminists.
Introduction - Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger PART ONE: EMPIRICAL WORK The Bleeding Body - Kathryn Matthews Lovering Adolescents Talk about Menstruation Sexual Harassment - Celia Kitzinger and Alison Thomas A Discursive Approach `What Is It?' Masculinity and Femininity in Cultural Representations of Childhood - Erica Burman Conflicting Opinions? `Anorexia Nervosa', Medicine and Feminism - Julie Hepworth and Christine Griffin PART TWO: THEORETICAL ADVANCES Feminist Discourses and Women's Heterosexual Desire - Wendy Hollway Identity, Politics and Talk - Sue Widdicombe A Case for the Mundane and the Everyday Romantic Discourse and Feminist Analysis - Margaret Wetherell Interrogating Investment, Power and Desire Pragmatism, Extravagance and Feminist Discourse Analysis - Corinne Squire Relativism, Reflexivity and Politics - Rosalind Gill Interrogating Discourse Analysis from a Feminist Perspective
`I find the issues raised by these contributors to be both interesting and significant' - Language and Literature `Whether you are a feminist psychologist or simply a psychologist engaging with the challenges of discourse analytic work, this book is highly recommended... this is the first text of its kind dealing specifically with discourse analysis from a feminist psychological perspective... [a] long overdue collection. As a seminal work adding to the debate surrounding discourse analysis, it is a vital book for anyone engaged in discursive and/or feminist psychological work' - The Psychologist `This much-needed project brings together the newest scholarship on the intersection of discourse analysis, feminism and psychology... a stimulating and complex picture of the state of theory and practice in politically progressive psychological discourse analysis' - Discourse & Society
