Marginalization of Alternative Gender and Sexual Identities:
The Role of Normative Discursive Practices in Chilean Society

Sara Balder

Abstract for paper presented at
Conference of the Georgetown Linguistics Society
The Language and Identity Tapestry: Linguistic Re/presentation of Identities in Social Interaction
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
February 18-20, 2005

In this paper, I examine normative discursive practices surrounding the social construction of gender and sexuality in Chile, addressing how these practices endorse the marginalization of gender and sexual minorities. The focus of the project is two-tiered, in that I will be examining linguistic forms such as verbal comments and address terms, as well as the social significance of such commentary as it is used in everyday Chilean discursive practices. Specifically, I study discursive practices that are considered 'heterosexist' in nature, meaning that they align with "the institutionalized assumption that everyone is heterosexual or should be, and that heterosexuality is inherently superior and preferable to homosexuality or bisexuality" (Marrones 2001:26). I examine the conventionalized inventory of acceptable gender and sexual identities in Chilean culture, and integrate the role of linguistic practices into this inventory, thereby looking at identity as a social phenomenon.

The heterosexist language used in Chile presupposes a direct relationship between gender identity and sexual orientation, and my analysis conclusively demonstrates the normative social conceptualization of this relationship in everyday Chilean discursive practices. Normative discursive practices in Chile exemplify men and women's need not only to demonstrate their masculinity and femininity respectively, but also to assert heterosexuality as a part of their gender. Drawing on linguistic mechanisms such as metonymy, metaphor, connotation, and inference, normative Chilean discourse accentuates the value system surrounding popular beliefs about gender and sexual identity. In this study, I demonstrate the use of these mechanisms in a number of verbal comments such as se le quema el arroz (his rice is getting burnt), se le da vuelta el paragua (his umbrella gets reversed), le gusta por el camino de tierra (he likes to take the dirt road), and in address terms such as maricón, maraca, culiado, hueco, tortillera, and camionera. I also expose an array of performative functions that are accomplished through the employment of such heterosexist terminology.

Normative Chilean language practices make knowledge of 'culturally approved selves' readily available (Liang 1999). Liang states that, "Identity results from the individual's perceived cultural expectations of what a 'normal' human being is and her own subjective experiences in relation to those expectations" (1999:306). Language plays a vital role in the general knowledge within Chilean society of what the cultural norms and expectations are, specifically those surrounding gender and sexual identity. As stated by sociolinguists Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, "Language is a primary vehicle by which cultural ideologies circulate, it is a central site of social practice, and it is a crucial means for producing sociocultural identities" (Bucholtz & Hall 2004:512). The performative functions of heterosexist language I outline in this paper are integral components of the identities considered acceptable in Chile. Heterosexism is a part of the dominant culture in Chile, and this linguistically unique ethnography provides a means by which the cultural values surrounding normative gender and sexual identity can be effectively expressed in everyday discourse.

Sara Balder recently graduated from the Department of Linguistics at the University of Colorado. She can be reached at Sara.Balder@Colorado.EDU.

Colorado Research in Linguistics - Volume 18, Issue 1 - June 2005