Debating “Aunties” and “Queens”: Gay Press Research in Cultural Studies and Sociolinguistics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14394/etyka.1341

Keywords:

ciota, homoseksualność, metodologia, prasa gejowska, transformacja

Abstract

Ciota and ciotka [an auntie, a queen], insults directed at homosexual men, have been gradually recontextualized and reappropriated in the LGBT language, culture, and activism. However, the scope and timeline of this process are disputed. The article reconstructs contemporary debates on how the word ciota was used in the Polish gay press in the 1990s. Having discussed the differences between the three selected studies, including one that is mine, I ponder over the possible reasons for the different conclusions the authors drew. The interrogated factors include methodological differences between media analysis in cultural studies and sociolinguistics, the evaluation of irony and camp, as well as factors connected to gender. What is at stake here is the political effectiveness of the recontextualized insults

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Author Biography

Ludmiła Janion, University of Warsaw

Assistant Professor at the American Studies Center, University of Warsaw. Her research on socio-cultural changes in the 1990s in Poland has been published in “Sexualities”, “Journal of Homosexuality”, “Feminist Media Studies” and other journals.

References

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Published

2023-05-31

How to Cite

Janion, Ludmiła. 2023. “Debating “Aunties” and ‘Queens’: Gay Press Research in Cultural Studies and Sociolinguistics”. Etyka, May. Warsaw, Poland. https://doi.org/10.14394/etyka.1341.

Issue

Online First

Section

Papers

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Copyright (c) 2023 Ludmiła Janion

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