Dr Aimee Bailey

My research is concerned with the relationship between language and identity, particularly in terms of gender and sexuality. It makes use of queer theory, feminist theory, corpus linguistics and (multimodal) critical discourse analysis. My PhD thesis examined the construction of normative discourses in online advice texts aimed at lesbian and bisexual women. I am especially interested in the role of language in issues of inclusion and exclusion, and am currently working on a project exploring the media representation of trans women in elite sport.

I would welcome expressions of interest for PhD study in any area of my research expertise, though would be particularly keen to supervise projects related to language, gender and sexuality.

Institute of English

Interdisciplinary Gender and Sexuality Research Cluster

Bailey, A. (2020) Review of Helen Sauntson’s ‘Language, Sexuality and Education’, Journal of Linguistics 56(1): 222-226.

Bailey, A. (2019) ‘Girl-on-girl culture’: Normative discourses in a corpus of lesbian sex advice, Journal of Language and Sexuality 8(2): 195–220.

• Language, gender and sexuality
• Corpus Linguistics
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• Multimodality
• Online media

• Sociolinguistics 
• Research Methods
• History of English

• PhD Applied Linguistics, Nottingham
• MA Applied Linguistics, Nottingham
• BA (hons) English Language and Literature, Nottingham

• ELAN1002 Evolving Language
• ELAN2001 Sociolinguistics
• ELAN2006 Research Methods for Linguists
• ELAN3000 English Language Dissertation
• ELAN3008 Language, Gender and Sexuality

Judith Baxter Award, British Association of Applied Linguistics’ (BAAL) special interest group (SIG) for Language, Gender and Sexuality. 

How to be a queer woman: Normative discourses in online media, 14th BAAL LGaS SIG event: Language, Gender and Health Inequalities, Nottingham Trent University, April 2022.

‘What’s a chick in a hetero relationship doing here?’: The representation of bisexuality in a queer women’s online advice column, International Gender and Language Association 11, Queen Mary University of London, June 2021.

‘Getting with girls like us’: Negotiating trans inclusion in a queer women’s community, Lavender Languages and Linguistics 26, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2019.

Discourses of normativity in queer women’s media, Using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis in research projects, Örebro University, Sweden, June 2018.

Discourses of normativity in queer women’s media, Graduate student work-in-progress seminar, Lavender Languages and Linguistics 25, Rhode Island College, USA, April 2018.

‘Girl-on-girl culture’: Constructing identity in a corpus of lesbian sex advice, Lavender Languages and Linguistics 24, University of Nottingham, April 2017.

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Plus 3 studentship, 2016-2019