Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 3h

Feeling beefy (also, come through arm veins)

Reposted by Frazer Heritage

Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 20h

On this date, Matthew Shephard died 27 years ago. He was beaten, tortured, and left for dead on fence for being gay. Please keep him and his wonderful mother Judy in your thoughts. And let's all work for a world where such horrific things do not happen to anyone. ❤️🏳️‍🌈

800 8K 29K

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 5h

I usually do to welcome people in, and sometimes while they work. I tend to do [theme] + cosy BGM. So a lot of Halloween BGM lately :)

2

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 2d

This thread has really made my day. It’s so lovely and validating seeing someone clearly read (with a lot of care) a paper that’s really close to my heart - and not only that, just *getting* what exactly what I was trying to say. I’m so appreciative! ❤️🥰🥰

Netzwerk Queerlinguistik @queerlinguistik.bsky.social · 2d

Another #ComingOutDay-related queer linguistic publication, @nounfraze.bsky.social's (2025) study—available #OpenAcces in the #JournalOfPragmatics—focuses on the coming out of transgender video game characters. Heritage connects Pragmatics, Ludolinguistics,...
doi.org/10.1016/j.pr...

Social identity and implicature: Exploring the pragmatics of transgender coming out narratives in videogames

Despite being one of the most popular forms of media, videogames are an under-researched text type within linguistics. This paper examines the languag…

doi.org

1 11

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you so much for sharing!! ❤️🫶

4

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 12d

I sometimes feel like writing a reverse piece on this being like ‘we don’t NEED natural sciences. We know ENOUGH about the world. We need to enjoy life and help people enjoy it’ and wait for these kind of people to see the hypocrisy when they inevitably get enraged

1 3

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 17d

Before we start teaching next week, I’m going to treat myself tonight to my first take away (I.e., order-in) since New Year’s Eve. Nice little treat before the inevitably intense 11 weeks. Now just to decide what to treat myself to…

1 7

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 23d

Satire but great to show people why FL is important!

Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 24d

Ok this was funny.

Reposted by Frazer Heritage

Discourse, Context and Media Journal @dcmjournal.bsky.social · 25d

@katebarber.bsky.social has studied legitimization through hyperlinks in blog posts.
🟦Data is taken from 5 blogs dealing with s€xuAl violence.
🔷Links are classified as different types of anchor text.
🔵Technological affordances are evidential resources
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

1 2 3

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 25d

Your work is just too popular! People are (rightly) citing it and you need to know!

1

Reposted by Frazer Heritage

Lucy Jones @lucyjones.bsky.social · 25d

📢Join us on the IGALA Executive Committee! 📢

Nominations are open NOW for President-Elect, Secretary, Comms Officer or Treasurer. Apply before the end of Sep to help inform the shape and direction of the International Gender and Language Association.

Just let me know if you have any questions!

8 9

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 25d

Having been secretary for… too many years… I’m also happy to answer any questions applicants might have!

BAAL Language, Gender & Sexuality SIG @lgas-baal.bsky.social · Sep 6

For info on how to become the BAAL SIG new secretary see here ⤵️

#BAAL2025

4

Reposted by Frazer Heritage

Daria Dayter @coocho.bsky.social · 26d

A reminder that Frazer's talk starts in half an hour! Here is the Zoom link:
tinyurl.com/talkddi
(please use a recognisable username)
@ylvabiri.bsky.social @lulind.bsky.social #DDIAFinLa #OSSO 🐦🐦🐦

Frazer Heritage
(Manchester Metropolitan University)

Caveman Theories, Modern Misogyny: Evolutionary Psychology in Incel Fora
This talk explores how incel communities (i.e., misogynistic communities of men who want to, but do not, have sexual/romantic relationships with women), draw on evolutionary psychology within their online interactions. Evolutionary psychology is a discipline that seeks to explore psychological behaviours, with the view that these are adaptations which are the result of ancestral problems - most notably those which have stemmed from sexual needs and behaviours. There is, understandably, a significant body of feminist critique of evolutionary psychology. I take the position that evolutionary psychology is inherently anti-feminist, misogynistic, and queer-phobic. I also take the view that many of the findings from evolutionary psychology are based on unfounded claims and are tantamount to pseudo-science. Using methods from corpus linguistics, I demonstrate that incels use pseudo-science associated with evolutionary psychology when discussing, for example, "mating preferences". The data demonstrate that such language is often used to justify misogynistic (and racist) world views . Given that the ontological underpinnings of evolutionary psychology are misogynistic and anti-feminist, this also has implications for work exploring the behaviours of incels (see Lucy et al., under review). This paper ends by discussing a clear issue around the impact of evolutionary psychology in relation to investigating incels: namely, how research funded by the UK government has employed an evolutionary psychological perspective that has normalised such misogynistic worldviews, and provided justification for these ideologies to be propagated.

2 2

Reposted by Frazer Heritage

Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 28d

I know several people who have covered right-wing folks and white nationalists for years. I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous and hard the work is, how much of a toll it can take on their mental health, and how newsrooms undervalue it even when that expertise is clearly relevant and needed.

29 670 3.9K

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · 27d

Excited to give a talk as part of the Online Selves - Self Online series tomorrow. Thank you for the invitation @coocho.bsky.social!

My talk is titled "Caveman Theories, Modern Misogyny: Evolutionary Psychology in Incel Fora" - and addresses how pseudoscience normalises misogyny.

Abstract below ⏬

4 16

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · Sep 8

Ramen, takoyaki, edamame

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · Sep 8

Had a lovely time catching up with a friend and colleague in Liverpool today. Treated myself to my favourite food after 😍😍😍

1 9

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · Sep 7

I am and I’m not surprised. I think there seems to be an air or partisanship, though there’ll still be people upset about Labour’s treatment of trans people, I also get the sense some people are still supporting them out of a sense of tradition, rather than basing their views on their policies

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · Sep 6

Having a chat with someone today about this paper, so thought I would re(tweet? Skeet? Idk what the verb is)

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · Jul 31

📣🎉 Genuinely so happy to share my new article in The Journal of Pragmatics 🎉

My paper is titled "Social identity and implicature: Exploring the pragmatics of transgender coming out narratives in videogames" and can be accessed here (Open Access!) 👇👇

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Social identity and implicature: Exploring the pragmatics of transgender coming out narratives in videogames

Despite being one of the most popular forms of media, videogames are an under-researched text type within linguistics. This paper examines the languag…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 6

Reposted by Frazer Heritage

Monika Bednarek @corpusling.bsky.social · Sep 4

9/9 2025 Online guest lecture by Melissa Kemble on Exploring gendered representations of sexuality and ethnicity in the Australian sports media: A corpus-based analysis of Aussie Rules and Rugby League Details. Details:
sydneycorpuslab.com/wp-content/u...

sydneycorpuslab.com

6 3

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · Sep 3

Being the secretary for @lgas-baal.bsky.social was a wonderful experience. If you’re interested in applying and have questions, please do feel free to DM!

BAAL Language, Gender & Sexuality SIG @lgas-baal.bsky.social · Sep 3

We are looking for a new secretary!

our huge thanks go to @nounfraze.bsky.social who has been a wonderful secretary for many years!

Info here⤵️

1 2

Reposted by Frazer Heritage

piotr-j.bsky.social @piotr-j.bsky.social · Sep 2

Delighted to share the details of my forthcoming book:

www.routledge.com/Autism-in-In...

Autism in Interaction: (Un)masking and Impoliteness

This book seeks to build further links between (im)politeness research and autism by countering prevailing notions in pragmatics around autism and media portrayals of autistic characters through the l...

www.routledge.com

3 9

Frazer Heritage @nounfraze.bsky.social · Aug 27

Went into Manchester Museum yesterday to see the fantastic George House Trust HIV exhibition. Right next to it was another passion of mine - linguistics! Featuring the brilliant @manchestervoices.bsky.social project