2014/12/11 by Daniela Francesca Virdis · 1 citation
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology #Gender, Feminism, and Media #Gender Studies in Language
paper · doi:10.1080/23268743.2014.984924
openalex publication_date 2014/12/11 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In this article on Sub-Umbra, I firstly discuss the main features and themes of the discourse of pornography and sexuality in the nineteenth century and the linguistic characteristics typifying that discourse. Secondly, I analyze the excerpts from the novel describing female bodies and referring to female and male genitalia where the strategies of the discourse of pornography are more salient. What emerges from this linguistic investigation is that the male narrator's remarks about those bodies and body parts are consistently furnished by means of value-laden lexemes. Their main discursive function proves to be that of intermingling physical attributes with sexuality and lust, thereby representing those attributes as the causes of sexual desire.