The Myth of Mars and Venus

Deborah Cameron, who kicks off our conference, is one of the most prominent linguists in the country and much of her recent work has been effective in getting a wider audience for language issues. With self-help and pop psychology books such as Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, If Men Could Talk and Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps gaining mass market circulation through the 1990s and early 2000s, Cameron's Myth of Mars and Venus has come as a refreshingly forthright response to the industry that has grown around "hard-wired" differences between women and men and lazy stereotypes about how the sexes communicate.

In her talk, Deborah Cameron will look at the the myth of difference and how it harms us all. Obviously, we'd recommend you buy the book as it's a great read (just like this review  or this one say!), but in the run up to the conference, if you look at these links from The Guardian in 2007 you'll get a taste of what she's tackling and the linguistic evidence she brings to challenge the myth.

Main article
What Language Barrier?
Speak Up, I Can't Hear You
Back Down to Earth
 
This Sunday Times article from 2007 is also a good read.

For an alternative approach, and one that might give you the chance to think about how far we can generalise about the linguistic behaviour of women and men, have a look at this emag article by Jennifer Coates, another key thinker in the field of gender and language.