Gendered Language Patterns and Gender-Linked Communication in Digital Spaces

Definitions of gender in scholarship have long been contested. However, the dominant view in language and gender studies is that gender is not innate or fixed but rather is socially constructed, fluid, and relational. In digital spaces, people perform their gender identities—in part—through their language usage. This performance of gender through language can be constrained by societal norms, but the online world can also offer the potential to use language in ways that challenge dominant sociocultural expectations around gender.