Applying Functional Grammar: A Discourse Analysis of Sexually Explicit Stories Written in Adult Magazines

A number of studies have addressed the relationship between sexual orientation and its effect on erotic discourse. Taken together, these studies provide limited evidence that heterosexuals in general may talk less explicitly and less candidly about sexual matters. Adopting the tools of Halliday's functional grammar, I undertake a discourse analysis to compare and contrast two erotic stories published in mainstream sexually explicit adult magazines. These two texts include depictions of: (1) cross-sex sexual activities written for heterosexual men; and (2) male same-sex sexual activities written for gay men. I analyze the mechanisms employed by the narrators for the purposes of thematic development, the representation of the processes, participants and circumstances, and the establishment of interpersonal relationships between the stories' narrators and the readers. I provide evidence that the narrators exploit parallel linguistic devices. I argue that this is not surprising given that the texts' purposes are similar: to provide erotic pleasure to those readers who choose to read them. The linguistic means of deriving erotic pleasure is thus not so much argued to be a function of sexual orientation, but rather personal sexual preferences that vary from individual to individual within the heterosexual and gay male communities.