‘Doris, You Bitch’: The Sexist and Gendered Ageist Discourses of Twitter Users Concerning a Female-Named UK Storm

Abstract

This article contains the analysis of the sexist and gendered ageist language used by Twitter users when talking about a female-named storm, Storm Doris, which took place on 23^rd February and 24^th February 2017. As sexist language is becoming less overt and more indirect, it is important that research is undertaken to expose its modern use (Mills 2008). This study examines representational strategies and collocates of 'old' in relation to Cuddy and Fiske's (2002) stereotyping scale, using corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis approach. It concludes that sexist and gendered ageist language is used in conjunction with Storm Doris and that the two discourses are deeply intertwined.