The metaphorical construction of sexual experience in a speech community of New Zealand university students

Abstract

Influenced by developments in feminist and discourse theory, the study examined a database of metaphors about sex collected by a New Zealand university student speech community. Using a Lakoff‐type analytic approach, the topics and source domains of the metaphors were identified. In addition, the linguistic constructions of the metaphors and their discourse function were also examined. The metaphors tended to capture male experience more convincingly than female experience and reflected male dominance in sexual relations. However, there was no necessary relationship between a metaphorical source domain and its ability to support a discourse of male dominance. The same metaphorical source domain could be used to support or undermine male dominance, depending on its context of use. This research demonstrated that understanding the powerfully generative source domains of metaphors about sex can facilitate an imaginative and strategic use of metaphor that has the potential to undermine dominant meaning systems.