A linguistic analysis of female and male opening posts on an online forum dedicated to pain

Previous research has highlighted differences in the way that men and women talk about pain and in the extent to which word choices correspond with language-based diagnostic tools for pain, specifically, the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ). In this study, we apply procedures from Corpus Linguistics, in which computer software assists in identifying statistically significant patterns in language use, to explore 8697 Opening posts to an online forum dedicated to pain. We determine the extent to which descriptions of pain in the forum include terms that appear in the MPQ and we consider female contributions and male contributions to investigate how reports of pain and its effects relate to gender. Our findings show that there is a large set of vocabulary that is used by both female and male contributors in relation to various aspects of pain experiences. In addition, female contributors to the forum use a wider variety of terms in reference to the quality, intensity, duration and regularity of pain, including a larger number of terms that appear in the MPQ. In sum, female contributors use a wider range of terms in relation to pain and differences in the contexts in which female and male contributors discuss the impacts of pain correspond with gender tropes. Understanding the impacts of pain on individuals’ social lives and recognising how this and the articulation of pain experiences is informed by gender conventions can help health professionals to respond effectively. • We can investigate reported sex/gender differences in reports of pain through online forum data. • There is a common vocabulary used by female and male contributors. • Female participants use a wider variety of terms in relation to pain. • Many terms of the McGill Pain Questionnaire are not used by forum members. • Female and male contributors refer to different contexts when discussing the impacts of pain.