Navigating ‘safe’ and ‘non-safe’ queer spaces

A study of style-shifting in Singapore

Bibliographic Data

ID7315817
AuthorsJill Khoo (0000-0001-8696-0771, University of Edinburgh), Christian Ilbury (0000-0001-9289-271X, University of Edinburgh)
Year2024
Volume13
Issue2
Pages201-226
Publication date2024-07-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Language and Sexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2211-3770 • E-ISSN: 2211-3789
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/jls.00036.kho
OpenAlexW4400593482
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited50

It is well documented that gay people adopt behavioural strategies to navigate the heteronormative expectations and norms of social space. These practices are likely to be particularly pronounced in socially conservative countries which have seen less progress for LGBTQ+ rights. This study examines how two gay men (Rui and Kenni) stylistically negotiate their sexual identities in a socially conservative country – Singapore – by analyzing the variation in two phonetic variables that have been linked to gender and sexuality: Pitch and /s/. We show that both speakers style-shift across queer-friendly and heteronormative environments though the rate and degree of shifting is influenced both by the situated social meanings of the features and the interactional context. Concluding, we argue that research should consider how minoritised individuals are required to style-shift in order to adhere to the hegemonic norms and expectations of society

Context (archaeology · Geography · Hegemony · Heteronormativity · Human sexuality · Linguistics · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Queer · Situated · Social science · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Variation (astronomy · Gender Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access