Gender and Language, 2019, 13(2): 149-152

The contributions to this special issue provide clear evidence that linguistic and discursive constructions, alongside institutional practices on domestic and sexual violence, draw upon and reproduce a cultural scaffolding of rape, in which women’s agency and credibility is repeatedly and systemically undermined. Feminist linguistic research highlights the ongoing
need for critical analyses of the ways language as discourse, text or as used in interaction reproduces or challenges a social system that condones gender based violence. (From the guest editorial). This paper provides the introduction to this Special Issue: "Constituting and responding to domestic and Sexual violence" of Gender and Language. It focuses on Tennent and Weatherall's New Zealand research (see also #6498 & #6499). Record #6500