Text A: a ‘vox pop’ interview response Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 1 of 10 Text A: a ‘vox pop’ interview response Student 1 (marked South London accent): When I think of the word tart (.) I think of girls in short skirts and red lipstick blusher and (.) face paint like blue (.) eyeshadow (.) gelled up hair (.) erm tart’s usually associated with people who are usually chavs I think (.) um gold earrings (.) yeah that’s it

Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 2 of 10 Text B: marketing text in the “Gifts for Him” section of www.giftinspiration.com Connoisseur’s Wine Hamper (order no 005m) This hamper is sure to please the discerning wine connoisseur. Inside they will find a bottle of good claret, a splendid large wine glass – big enough to take a whole bottle of wine and ideal for tasting, a stylish bottle coaster and matching bottle stopper featuring a classic vines design. The wine is Montagne Saint Emilion, Chateau La Fleur Plaisance 2002, claret with a soft, ripe style (Full bottle, 750ml. All beautifully presented in a premium quality wicker and leather hamper. © www.giftinspiration.com

Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 3 of 10 Text C: text excerpt from the back of a box of Fitnesse breakfast cereal The Woman’s Code of Honour: Always letting your best friend have first try of that last little black dress that’s on sale … Never keeping secret addresses – such as the best hairdresser in town – to yourself! … Always coming to the rescue in a man emergency with a glass of wine, DVD and box of tissues … Never being afraid to receive a compliment from your friends on how good you’re looking – or give one right back … (The Nestlé cereals brands, text and logo is produced with the kind permission of Société des Produits Nestlé SA)

Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 4 of 10 Text D: Male to male text messages (each texting a friend to arrange to meet up) Morning mate, im just waiting for someone to fix my socket. They’re meant to be here between 10-12. I’ll buzz ya before I pop over Hi mate what you up to tonight? Want to do something. go looking for bitches or something. Hi [name] – have not heard from either of you lately, hope you are both well and will keep in touch – how about dinner at ours at home if you fancy calling. Looking to reach bar rumba later give me a bell if you’re up for it bruv. It’s [name]’s birthday bash tonight

Text E: A popular book Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 5 of 10 Text E: A popular book

Text F: An excerpt from Big Brother Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 6 of 10 Text F: An excerpt from Big Brother John: Let’s let’s just grow up shall we(.) you’re in your forties you’ve got a younger [man Brigitte: [I’m forty-one John: Forty-one (.) you’ve got a younger man (.) you’ve known him for nine months and [you Brigitte: [yes John: And you’re enthusiastically over him like a sixteen-year-old puppy (.) so let’s wait for ten years’ time (1) he won’t be in your life in ten years’ time (.) who are you tryin to kid Brigitte: Why why not John: Who are you trying to kid Brigitte for [goodness sake Caprice: [how [do you know Brigitte: [that’s terrible Caprice: You are so hurtful (.) [you are disgusting John: [it’s the truth Caprice: You are hurtful (.)Stop it now John: I’m just telling the truth and if the truth hurts then so be it

Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 7 of 10 Text G: An MSN exchange A = female, B = male (numbers in bracket = times of comments) A (23:09:38): You having fun? B (23:13:18): Hi, A. Fun? That’s a doubtful commodity on a Monday. I believe that the late Mr Presley had some in Acapulco once. Not his best film ever.) What is the fun quotient on the sarf cohwst? A (23:14:35): Hmmm, well, I spent the evening tackling my humungous in-tray in front of the telly, so when i can’t find important financial reports, it’ll probably be because they’re down the back of the sofa where I was hiding from ER horror! B (23:14:35): I’ve had some beer. That might count as a kind of fun, or sublimation of the wish for it. B (23:16:32): You can fit down the back of the sofa, along with the lost coins and crumbs? I know you’re slim, but that’s clearly a big sofa.

Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 8 of 10 Text H: An excerpt from ‘How to Handle Your Woman’s Nagging’ from http://uk.askmen.com A female nagger can be classified in one of four groups: The Innocent: This is one nagger that doesn’t really mean to nag. She brings up problems that she has to make you aware of, but tries to do so without making you angry or starting an argument. Chances are her intentions are good, she just needs a little work on her approach. The Chatterbox: This nagger never seems to stop. But her nagging rarely escalates in to real fights because you’ve probably learned to effectively zone her out (by the way, this is a good method that I’ll cover later; just don’t let her catch you). (Continued on the next slide.) Every effort has been made to obtain permissions from holders of copyright material. However, if any copyright owner has been omitted, Teachit (UK) Ltd would be grateful for any additional copyright information, and undertakes to rectify any omissions.

Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 9 of 10 (Continued from the previous slide) The Riddler: Ah, the nagger that nags without nagging (say that five times fast). She says things like “Would you like to try and guess why the green plates are not in the cabinet?” You have no idea what she’s talking about and she knows it, otherwise why would she be asking in the first place? The T-Rex: If she doesn’t rip your head off while screaming at you, you got away lucky. It seems as though she actually grows horns when the nagging starts, the room gets a little darker, you know it’s coming and there’s no place to run. Scientific studies conducted within the AskMen laboratories showed conclusive evidence that she may very well be one of Satan’s minions. Good luck with that. Every effort has been made to obtain permissions from holders of copyright material. However, if any copyright owner has been omitted, Teachit (UK) Ltd would be grateful for any additional copyright information, and undertakes to rectify any omissions.

Notes about the data slides Gender texts and data © www.teachit.co.uk 2009 12810 Slide 10 of 10 Notes about the data slides TEXT A: the speaker is female though the content often leads students to think the speaker is male. TEXT B: this is a product from the ‘Gifts for Him’ section of a gifts website, but it is useful to ask who the audience is here – who buys ‘Gifts for Him’? TEXT C: the facsimile scanned from a cereal box (and reproduced with consent) is a bit fuzzy so it’s transcribed too. A marked use of gendered language – but is there a male equivalent in the cereal world? TEXT D: all male to male text interactions. How much variation is there? Is there such a thing as male language? TEXT E: a book all about language and gender. What are the stereotypes – and what indications of the perspective the author is coming from? Who buys these kind of books? Why? TEXT F: a 3-way male-female-female interaction. How does the conversational dynamic work here? TEXT G: a male-female MSN exchange. Both speakers are 40+ so prepare for shock that such people do MSN chat... Is gender evident here at all? TEXT H: a text from a website for male readers. Another marked use of gendered language – is there a female equivalent?