Sex, Organs and Audiotape: A Discourse Analytic Approach to Talking about Heterosexual Sex and Relationships

Abstract

This article examines talk about sex and heterosexual relationships, based on a study of 12 women and 13 men who participated in semi-structured interviews, in order to identify the `discourses' of sexuality which inform talk about heterosexual sex. One theme in talk about heterosexuality can be understood through the `pseudo-reciprocal gift discourse': women are described as `giving' themselves to men, whereas men `give' women orgasms, reproducing dominant norms of male activity and female passivity, — and thereby reinforcing the oppression of women. Men talk more graphically about sex than women — we suggest the resources of meaning concerning sex suit men's interests rather than women's, and reflect men's dominance in a (hetero)sexist society.