How does language itself produce gender?

Mills examines the subtler mechanics of grammar, metaphor, narrative voice, point of view, advertising, journalism and literary fiction to show how language positions readers and reinforces assumptions about gender, power and identity. It remains an influential intervention in stylistics because it insists that close reading is never politically neutral.

Drawing on poststructuralism, discourse analysis and feminist theory while remaining remarkably accessible, Mills moves beyond essentialist ideas of "women's writing" to consider how texts are produced, marketed and interpreted within social and historical contexts. Her readings of advertising, romance fiction, newspapers and canonical literature make the book valuable well beyond literary studies. Although written in the mid-1990s, many of its concerns—representation, media framing, gendered address, intersectionality and the politics of interpretation—have become even more relevant in contemporary debates around digital culture and identity. An essential text for readers of Judith Butler, Deborah Cameron, bell hooks, Teresa de Lauretis and anyone interested in the politics of language.

1995 Routledge paperback. Very good condition with light shelf wear and a clean, unmarked interior.