Cover not available

Article published In: Labeling in Language, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Edited by Heiko Motschenbacher
[Journal of Language and Sexuality 15:1] 2026
► pp. 73–104

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Sex/gender labels in EU directives in English

A queer linguistics approach

ORCiD logo with link | University of Messina, Italy
Published online: 13 January 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.25003.san
Abstract
The present study addresses sex/gender labels in EU directives in English from a Queer and Linguistic Labeling perspective. Employing a methodological triangulation that integrates qualitative and quantitative approaches, the analysis explores sex/gender labels, as well as the social identities and practices these enact. By combining Queer Linguistics and Linguistic Labeling, this study further investigates the performative and normative potentials of such labels, highlighting their roles in simultaneously legitimising and marginalising discourses, identities and practices. The findings reveal significant inconsistencies and fluctuations in form and usage of sex/gender labels, demonstrating how these echo the non-fixity of fluid constructions and reinforce heteronormative views while silencing non-conforming identities. This notwithstanding, the study identifies a potential, though extremely limited, shift toward recognising fluid identities. These insights contribute to advancing the research field that combines Queer and Linguistic Labeling frameworks, while exposing the inherent fluctuation of sex/gender labels, which necessitate constant updating and revision. The absence of such revisions contributes to some of the current limitations in EU’s gender-neutral language policy.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Combining queer linguistics and linguistic labeling
  • 3.Methods
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Equality
    • 4.2Discrimination
    • 4.3Violence
    • 4.4Identitarian values
    • 4.5Balance
    • 4.6Women-only
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (56)
References
Armitage, Luke. 2020. Explaining backlash to trans and non-binary genders in the context of UK Gender Recognition Act reform. Journal of the International Network for Sexual Ethics and Politics 81: 11–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baisa, Vit, Michelfeit, Jan, Medveď, Marek & Jakubíček, Miloš. 2016. European Union language resources in Sketch Engine. In Proceedings of Tenth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC’16), Nicoletta Calzolari, Khalid Choukri, Thierry Declerck, Sara Goggi, Marko Grobelnik, Bente Maegaard, Joseph Mariani, Helene Mazo, Asuncion Moreno, Jan Odijk & Stelios Piperidis (eds), 823–827. Portorož: European Language Resources Association (ELRA).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, Paul. 2004. Querying keywords: Questions of difference, frequency, and sense in keywords analysis. Journal of English Linguistics 32(4): 346–359. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. Sexed Texts: Language, Gender and Sexuality. London: Equinox. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, Paul & McEnery, Tony (eds). 2015. Corpora and Discourse: Integrating Discourse and Corpora. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baxter, Judith. 2003. Positioning Gender in Discourse: A Feminist Methodology. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biel, Łucja. 2022. EU Multilingual lawmaking: Technology-enhanced translation meets resource-efficient multilingualism. In Mehrsprachige Gesetzgebung: 20. Jahrestagung des Zentrums für Rechtsetzungslehre / Multilingual Legislation: 20th Annual Conference of the Centre for Legislative Drafting, Stefan Höfler & Felix Uhlmann (eds), 1–14. Zürich: Dike Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary & Hall, Kira. 2004. Theorizing identity in language and sexuality research. Language in Society 331: 469–515. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burri, Susanne. 2018. EU Gender Equality Law — Update 2018: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Caliendo, Giuditta & Foubert, Océane. 2022. Gender representation in French Eurolect: An open dialogue between supranational and national legal varieties. Journal of Pragmatics 1961: 54–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, Deborah & Kulick, Don. 2003. Language and Sexuality. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cardoso, Ana. 2023. Trans rights in the European Union — “sex” v. “gender” on the path towards equality and non-discrimination. UNIO — EU Law Journal 8(2): 51–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cavaghan, Rosalind. 2017. Making Gender Equality Happen: Knowledge, Change and Resistance in EU Gender Mainstreaming. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cavagnoli, Stefania & Mori, Laura (eds). 2019. Gender in Legislative Languages: From EU to National Law in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Connell, Raewyn W. 1987. Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
EIGE. 2024a. EU regulations. Gender-Based Violence. 〈[URL]〉 (December 10, 2024).
. 2024b. Gender Budgeting. Gender Mainstreaming. 〈[URL]〉 (December 10, 2024).
Fairclough, Norman. 1992. Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Formato, Federica. 2019. Gender, Ideology and Discourse in Italian. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guarino, Ornella. 2023. Gender neutral language in EU secondary legislation: The case of the English language. Iperstoria 211: 412–432.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jones, Lucy. 2016. Language and gender identities. In The Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity, Siân Preece (ed), 210–224. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2021. Queer linguistics and identity: The past decade. Journal of Language and Sexuality 10(1): 13–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kantola, Johanna. 2010. Gender and the European Union. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kantola, Johanna & Lombardo, Emanuela. 2018. EU gender equality policies. In Handbook of European Policies: Interpretive Approaches to the EU, Hubert Heinelt & Sybille Münch (eds), 331–349. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kilgarriff, Adam. 2012. Getting to know your corpus. In Text, Speech and Dialogue. TSD 2012: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Petr Sojka, Aleš Horák, Ivan Kopeček & Karel Pala (eds), 3–15. Berlin: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koller, Veronika. 2019. Critical discourse studies of language and sexuality. In The Oxford Handbook of Language and Sexuality, Kira Hall & Rusty Barrett (eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Layder, Derek. 1993. New Strategies in Social Research. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leap, William. 2015. Queer linguistics as critical discourse analysis. In The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Deborah Tannen, Heidi Hamilton & Deborah Schiffrin (eds), 661–680. Malden, MA: John Wiley and Sons. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Livia, Anna & Hall, Kira. 1997. ‘It’s a girl!’ Bringing performativity back to linguistics. In Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality, Anna Livia & Kira Hall (eds), 1–18. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lombardo, Emanuela, Meier, Petra & Verloo, Mieke (eds). 2009. The Discursive Politics of Gender Equality: Stretching, Bending and Policy-Making. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McConnell-Ginet, Sally. 2015. Politics of labeling. In The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality, Patricia Whelehan & Anne Bolin (eds). Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. Words Matter: Meaning and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McEnery, Tony & Hardie, Andrew. 2012. Corpus Linguistics: Method, Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Milani, Tommaso. 2015. Language, gender and sexuality in South Africa. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus 46(1): i–v. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Taking queer linguistics further: Sociolinguistics and critical heteronormativity research. International Journal of the Sociology and Language 2121: 149–179. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. A typologically based view on relativization in English as a European lingua franca. European Journal of Applied Linguistics 1(1): 103–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022. Linguistic Dimensions of Sexual Normativity: Corpus-Based Evidence. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2026. Labeling theory in language and sexuality studies. Journal of Language and Sexuality 15(1): this issue.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Motschenbacher, Heiko & Stegu, Martin. 2013. Queer linguistic approaches to discourse. Discourse & Society 24(5): 519–535. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nardone, Chiara. 2018. Women and work: A cross-linguistic corpus-assisted discourse study in German and in Italian. CADAAD Journal 10(1): 167–186.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Page, Douglas. 2018. When do voters support the European Union’s involvement in gay rights? Political Behaviour 401: 103–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennisi, Giulia A. 2022. What gender-neutral legislation owes to grammar: The concept of ‘gender’ in legal English and the Italian guidelines for use of gender-sensitive language in legislation. CERLIS SERIES 111: 163–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robertson, Colin. 2012. EU legal English: Common law, civil law or a new genre? European Review of Private Law 5(6): 1215–1240. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. EU legislative texts and translation. In The Ashgate Handbook of Legal Translation, King Kui Sin, Le Cheng & Anne Wagner (eds), 154–175. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, William. 2020. Gender neutrality in EU legislative drafting. European Journal of Law Reform 11: 20–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Santonocito, C. Serena. 2023. Gendered perspectives in EU multilingual policy: A study on Italian and English directives. Expressio 71: 179–213.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Šarčević, Susan & Robertson, Colin. 2013. The work of lawyer-linguists in the EU institutions. In Legal Translation in Context. Professional Issues and Prospects, Anabel Borja Albi & Fernando Prieto Ramos (eds), 181–202. Berlin: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, Charlotte. 2017. Togetherness or othering? Community and comunità in the UK and Italian press. In Representing the Other in European Media Discourses, Jan Chovanec & Katarzyna Molek-Kozakowska (eds), 55–80. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Dijk, Teun A. 1998. Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
von Wahl, Angelika. 2021. The EU as a gender equality regime: A core research concept. In The Routledge Handbook of Gender and EU Politics, Gabriele Abels, Andrea Krizsán, Heather MacRae & Anna van der Vleuten (eds), 17–29. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wagenknecht, Peter. 2007. Was ist Heteronormativität? Zu Geschichte und Gehalt des Begriffs. In Heteronormativität: Empirische Studien zu Geschlecht, Sexualität und Macht, Jutta Hartmann, Christian Klesse, Peter Wagenknecht, Bettina Fritzsche & Kristina Hackmann (eds), 17–34. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wodak Ruth. 2005. Gender mainstreaming and the European Union: Interdisciplinarity, gender studies and CDA. In Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, Michelle Lazar (ed), 90–113. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue