How concerns about erections are discursively constructed and treated on a sexual health helpline

Abstract

This dissertation deals with how the topic of erectile dysfunction is treated and constructed on a sexual health helpline. The majority of research in sexual health is from a medicalised perspective and is concerned with factors such as prevalence and causality. This report takes up a Discursive Psychology position in order to analyse the conversational practices on the helpline in their “local interactional context” in order to gain an impression of what is “done” through language. This is achieved through a detailed analysis of the turn-by-turn sequential unfolding of talk on the helpline. Ultimately it is suggested that the institutional context of the helpline is introduced through the discursive performances of the participants in conversation. The research report explores the consequences of such institutionalised conversational practices. For instance, medicalised accounts of erectile dysfunction are privileged and caller’s personal concerns are negated.