Blurb:

This essay analyses the complex relationship between gender and impoliteness. Rather than assuming that gender and impoliteness are concrete entities which can be traced in conversation, I argue that gender and impoliteness are elements which are worked out within the course of interaction. Despite the fact that much current research seems to focus on women’s interactional competitiveness (which challenges the notion that women are, on the whole, ‘nicer’ than men in interaction), I argue that women’s assertiveness is often judged to be impolite.