Speaking as a Woman: Gender, Silencing, and Agency in Public Discourse
- Abigaël Candelas de la Ossa, University of Edinburgh
- Old College Lorimer Room, University of Edinburgh
This paper examines Elinor Ochs’s claim that Western White middle class mothers are
silenced (1992). Using evidence from radio programs that are marked as "women’s space" (eg,
Women’s Hour) , as well as unmarked programs (eg, Today), I will argue that the situation in radio
discourse is not as clear-cut as Ochs suggests, but that women’s access to public discourse
spaces is highly problematic. I will rely Ochs’s analysis of gender-role silencing, as well as Rae
Langton’s analysis of the infelicity silencing of women (1993). It seems that certain gender stances
afford access to public discourse spaces, and that challenges to women’s lack of agency is
afforded, but that speech acts are more readily taken up in marked contexts where women’s
agency is erased (cf Meyerhoff 2004, 2007). Along the way I will argue that the cognitive science
notion of affordance (Steedman 2002a, 2002b) is a useful addition to speech act theory.
silenced (1992). Using evidence from radio programs that are marked as "women’s space" (eg,
Women’s Hour) , as well as unmarked programs (eg, Today), I will argue that the situation in radio
discourse is not as clear-cut as Ochs suggests, but that women’s access to public discourse
spaces is highly problematic. I will rely Ochs’s analysis of gender-role silencing, as well as Rae
Langton’s analysis of the infelicity silencing of women (1993). It seems that certain gender stances
afford access to public discourse spaces, and that challenges to women’s lack of agency is
afforded, but that speech acts are more readily taken up in marked contexts where women’s
agency is erased (cf Meyerhoff 2004, 2007). Along the way I will argue that the cognitive science
notion of affordance (Steedman 2002a, 2002b) is a useful addition to speech act theory.