This chapter focuses on the performance of impoliteness, through the lens of insults and other mocking language. Impoliteness has been documented as a tool men use to perform masculinity and bond with other men. Disney and Pixar films reflect this practice by portraying insults as associated naturally with masculinity, and often frame insults between men as silly and rapport-building. Female characters insulting others isn’t typically seen as “funny” in Disney, with some clear exceptions, including older characters (highlighting the “sassy old lady” trope). There is also some evidence that the more recent characters of color have more impolite utterances, suggesting that women of color are also an ideological exception to polite femininity. Discourses of masculinity in Disney and Pixar sanction insults as an expression of emotion, but portray more straightforward forms of affection as less common and/or less desirable. For femininity, the opposite discourse is upheld: polite forms are framed as natural, or desirable ways to express feeling, but insults have negative consequences.

This chapter summarises the main findings of the book and indicates future directions for research. The analyses of floor apportionment showed that while gender is salient in the House of Commons, many other factors (such as seniority) also affect the uptake of speaking turns. Adversarial language was used by all groups of politicians to some extent, and it appears to be a common convention of political discourse. The benefits of adversarial language, such as the function of scrutiny, are underlined and ways of categorising more destructive types of adversarial language suggested. The ethnographic descriptions of the devolved institutions leads to suggestions about what makes a political institutions more egalitarian, including an equal distribution of minority groups in all political parties, and informality and flexibility of proceedings. With respect to linguistic analyses, the intertextual mechanisms by which homosocial bonds are formed seems a fruitful area for further research. Finally, the case studies point to sexist attitudes and representations of women politicians, coupled with increasing critical awareness and intolerance of such representations which may improve the conditions of participation for women in politics.

In this first case study I start by describing Theresa May’s period in office as UK prime minister between 2016 and 2019. Then, an analysis of her performances in Prime Ministers Question Times (PMQs) with Jeremy Corbyn is undertaken, using the adversarial score devised in Chapter 3. The May–Corbyn exchanges are interesting because neither performer is typical in this context – May because she is a woman and Corbyn because he is a man whose stated aim is to make PMQs less adversarial. May’s style in debates is found to be highly evasive with some extremely adversarial elements and Corbyn also uses adversarial language. Next, May’s performances in ‘critical gendered moments’ (where gender or gender relations are explicitly discussed) are scrutinised. May is found to position herself as a feminist, but one who adheres to traditional, conservative gender roles, and she is shown to have some difficulty entering into the homosocial bonding activities of the old boy’s network because of how she is positioned by sexist, collaborative humour. Finally, I consider some gendered media representations of May, particularly in relation to emotion, and identify how she has resisted or exploited them.