Opposition as victimhood in newspaper debates about same-sex marriage

TURNER, Georgina, MILLS, Sara, VAN DER BOM, Isabelle, COFFEY-GLOVER, Laura, PATERSON, Laura L and JONES, Lucy (2018). Opposition as victimhood in newspaper debates about same-sex marriage. Discourse and Society, 29 (2), 180-197.

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Abstract

In this article, we take a queer linguistics approach to the analysis of data from British newspaper articles that discuss the introduction of same-sex marriage. Drawing on methods from critical discourse analysis (CDA) and corpus linguistics, we focus on the construction of agency in relation to the government extending marriage to same-sex couples, and those resisting this. We show that opponents to same-sex marriage are represented and represent themselves as victims whose moral values, traditions and civil liberties are being threatened by the state. Specifically, we argue that victimhood is invoked in a way that both enables and permits discourses of implicit homophobia.

Item Type:	Article
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Humanities Research Centre
Departments - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities > Department of Humanities
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926517734422
Page Range:	180-197
Depositing User:	Isabelle Van Der Bom
Date Deposited:	18 Oct 2017 10:04
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 15:30
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16996

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