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 the representation of trans people in the British press in the contexts of sport and charities.

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 Humanities and Political Studies

Interdisciplinary Gender and Sexuality Research Cluster

Bailey, A. (in press) Gender and Sexuality in Critical Discourse Studies. In: B. Forchtner and F. Zappettini (eds) Handbook on Critical Discourse Studies. Cheltenam: Edward Elgar.

Bailey, A. and Jones, L. (2024) ‘Fairness versus inclusion’: Representations of transgender athletes in British newspaper reports. In File, Kieran and Stephanie Schnurr (Eds.) The Language of Inclusion and Exclusion in Sport, Berlin: DeGruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110789829-010

Bailey, A. and Mackenzie, J. (2023) Support group or transgender lobby? Representing Mermaids in the British press, Critical Discourse Studies, Online First: https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2023.2291136 

Bailey, A. (2022) ‘Go home to the second wave!’: Discourses of trans inclusion and exclusion in a queer women’s online community, Discourse, Context & Media 50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2022.100656

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 
• Language, gender and sexuality
• Research methods
• The history of English

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

I am currently module leader for:
• ELAN1021 Evolving Language
• ELAN2031 Research Methods for Linguists
• ELAN3008 Language, Gender and Sexuality

In addition, I teach on:

• ELAN1019 Approaches to Reading and Writing
• ELAN1022 Topics in Linguistics
• ELAN2022 Sociolinguistics
• ELAN3000 Dissertation

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

(with Jai Mackenzie) A very British conspiracy: Mermaids, ‘gender ideology’ and threatened futures in the right-leaning press, Lavender Languages and Linguistics 30, University of Brighton, August 2024.

(with Jai Mackenzie) Threatened futures: Mermaids as agents of gender conspiracy in the British press, Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland, July 2024.

(with Lucy Jones) Doping, cheating and destroying: Discourses of exclusion in newspaper representations of trans sportswomen, Meaning in Social Interaction (iMean) 7, University of the West of England, Bristol, June 2024.

(with Lucy Jones) ‘Fairness versus inclusion’: Representations of transgender athletes in British newspaper reports, 6^th Annual Sport and Discrimination conference, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, June 2023.

(with Jai Mackenzie) Support group, lobby, cult: Representations of the charity Mermaids in the UK press, 15th LGaS SIG event: Dismantling the cis-tem, University of Brighton, May 2023.

(with Lucy Jones) ‘Fairness versus inclusion’: Representations of transgender athletes in British newspaper reports, Lavender Languages and Linguistics 29, Boise State University, USA, March 2023.

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.

Ningxin Yin (1st supervisor) 

Hanie Dorri (2nd supervisor)

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

External Examiner, BA Applied Writing, Newman University, 2022-present