Stories provide rich environments for understanding
how invitations to action, and responses to them, are delicately
managed and consequential for shaping just how “the
story” evolves as a form of social organization.
The present analysis focuses on seventeen invited collaborations,
as “Two guys” co-author gossip about an absent
woman, and on the distinct interactional dilemmas that
arise as morally indignant references are occasioned, initially
avoided, and yet gradually pursued as resources for escalating
affiliation and intimacy. At noticeably risky moments,
as the story gets reconfigured – from a reporting
about “last night,” to sexualized fantasy enacted
through stereotypic portrayals of uneducated Southern males
– speakers' intoned and animated voices
are revealed as methodically deployed, prosodically constructed,
and increasingly choral practices for shaping story trajectories:
artfully crafted resources for contextualizing and negotiating
concerted actions in ordinary conversation. The analysis
concludes by addressing the question: Are these gossiping
actions “sexist”?