The three themes, femininity, feminism and gendered discourse are central to research in language and gender. Femininity is a central aspect of gender performance and the process of 'gendering' individuals is ongoing and unavoidable. The first section of this book demonstrates some alternative conceptions of femininity, and a range of ways in which femininity is performed in different contexts and cultures. The analyses illustrate that we are all continually performing aspects of femininity (and masculinity) in flexible, dynamic, ambiguous, predictable and unpredictable ways.The second section of this book demonstrates the value of identifying gendered patterns in in social interaction in a range of spheres. The researchers analyse contemporary international evidence of sexism in language use. The final section of this book focuses on the different ways in which we negotiate our gender through discourse. Gender is just one of many facets of our social identities. The chapters in the third section focus in detail on ways in which gender is constructed through discourse, examining the interaction between individual agency and the larger constraining social structures, including socio-cultural norms, within which that agency is enacted.