A corpus-assisted discourse analysis of linguistic transphobia on Mumsnet

[IwantToRetire]

By Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics

It has been suggested that the forum-style parenting website Mumsnet is a hub for ‘gender-critical’ feminism, which directly opposes transgender rights, to be practised with little moderation (Livingston, 2018). This presentation reports on the initial stages of a project aiming to investigate that the potential intensification of linguistic transphobia on Mumsnet may lead to further marginalisation of transgender people offline (Powys Maurice, 2021). Though studies of non-linguistic transphobic rhetoric on Mumsnet (e.g., Pedersen, 2022; Mackenzie, 2019), and discourse analyses of other radical online communities (e.g., Krendel, 2020) have both occurred, this project is the first to analyse linguistic transphobia on Mumsnet. It also contributes to existing literature surrounding UK-based ‘gender-critical’ feminism; linguistic transphobia; and radical online community discourses.

The presentation explores the rise of potentially ‘gender-critical’ linguistic transphobia on Mumsnet over time through the corpus linguistic (CL) analysis of the ‘Feminism: Sex & Gender Discussions’ board, using three corpora comprising a fifteen-year timeframe: 2008-2013; 2013-2018; and 2018-2023. As the project is still ongoing, preliminary findings will be presented, namely a comparative overview of trends yielded in frequency analyses. Overall, this presentation provides insights into the growing commonality of potentially ‘gender-critical’ feminist rhetoric on Mumsnet and its effect on increasing transphobic discourse on the site.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-corpus-assisted-discourse-analysis-of-linguistic-transphobia-on-mumsnet-tickets-880795271367?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

(I had just finished my favourite tea time treat of catching up on FWR and was going to get back to the grindstone when this popped up on my feed. So have come back as it is too good not to be shared. Enjoy!)

Ooooo are you going to self identify as a TRA? Make sure you come up with a cracking slogan for your tshirt and your hair is blue.

I've come here after reading the thread in site stuff, I'm not here about the FWR elements but want to post concerned about the other issues raised in this thread. The potential for cross fora user identification through linguistic analysis and the risk to vulnerable women and children this could pose. If you have someone on here posting they are terrified of their husband, she hasn't left him but details over a number of months enough for a researcher to do detailed analysis of her language. As a future exercise to test their AI bot they scrape Reddit and think she posted in an NSFW sub 15 years ago. To test the bot further they scrape twitter and LinkedIn and fully identify her.

Nothing she has posted is illegal but everything she's posted could ruin or even threaten her life. My question to them would be what are the ethical considerations around this piece of work? I can see the wholesale benefits from a criminology standpoint, I can also see how this has the potential to be life threatening further down the line.

You’ll share with class now, won’t you, Vipers who’re slithering along on Thursday?

Happy to ask questions on behalf of Mumsnetters if I get the chance.

And yes I will take notes or record somehow.

Following on from my other post and thinking on it further who would be culpable if that were to happen? Legislation around AI and the internet is so fast moving but would there be any legal recourse in that example, the poster will have had no knowledge her data was being used in that manner. It's an interesting thought piece for the philosophy students to think on, maybe the researcher could pass my query onto their colleagues in the philosophy or law departments.

Have the Institute for Forensic Linguistics thought through the potential implications of this? The principal purpose of the institute is to support criminal investigations and to provide expert witnesses during prosecution. I can't imagine that any defence barrister would take advantage of this unethical, morally unjustifiable and possibly illegal activity to question the credibility of any investigative work or expert witness.

DON'T buy UTDOD volumes 1 and 2 then or you'll be having an attack of the vapours!

Zoom and other platforms can have webinar mode, as does MS Teams.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/get-started-with-microsoft-teams-webinars-42f3f874-22dc-4289-b53f-bbc1a69013e3

Just trying on my top for Thursday

Who is actually overseeing this PhD and its methodology and whether it is a) good practice b) legal c) bringing the university into disrepute.

Dr Nicci MacCleod is the supervisor. After this level of interest, I would anticipate that NMac and Prof Tim Grant will be there to answer some questions about governance, ethics, oversight, matters of informed consent.

https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/persons/nicci-macleod/datasets/

https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/persons/tim-grant

Have the Institute for Forensic Linguistics thought through the potential implications of this? The principal purpose of the institute is to support criminal investigations and to provide expert witnesses during prosecution. I can't imagine that any defence barrister would take advantage of this unethical, morally unjustifiable and possibly illegal activity to question the credibility of any investigative work or expert witness.

That's a really good point.

Usually. They'll ask people to turn on their camera and microphone and ask a question in person, say who they are etc.

Or, they ask people to post in a Q&A function (available on some platforms and where you can vote on the questions) or in the chat. Sometimes, they restrict the chat so that only the panel can see it (not other attendees) so a facilitator picks questions and you've no idea what's been asked by other attendees.

It would be helpful if they'd announce the full details of the format in advance—such as advance questions only.

I have a TRA in the family who likes poetry, would the books be a good prezzie for their B'day?

😂 most definitely! But then I'm evil like that!

I think I might go in person.

Oh, it would be glorious.

Re Q&As, I would genuinely be interested into how things like the above are taken into account....

I think that would be great if MNers are able to do so.

I have a feeling it will be rather easy to turn off those of us attending on line.

If anyone else wants to go along, and would like company, feel free to PM me.

Isn't the event sold out though, or have you already got tickets?

just wait till we get stuck into trans archeology! (its a thing)

I got a ticket early in anticipation of the rush.

I strongly suspect there is groupthink at work in Aston - that they all justify blatant breaches of research ethics to each other, including the ethics committees. If they are doing research work for the likes of MI5/6 where there is intelligence regulations that allow surveillance then they may be porting that thinking across to an area it has no place to be, justifying their unethical practices to themselves.

Me too @borntobequiet