Journal of Business and Technical Communication Mar 2026

Terms of Service and Community Guidelines as “Value-Laden” Documents: An (Adapted) Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of “Sexual Content”

Rachael Jordan

Abstract

Technical and professional communicators need to continue to interrogate how the seemingly mundane documents they create, such as terms of service (ToS) and community guidelines, and the systems those documents become a part of can oppress, exclude, and affect marginalized and hypermarginalized communities. This article presents an adapted corpus-assisted discourse analysis of how “sexual content” is defined across a corpus of 176 ToS and community guidelines from 118 social media sites. The findings show how ToS and community guidelines can work together to complicate our understanding of how values are intentionally and unintentionally embedded in these documents in order to uphold power or to meet emancipatory ends.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2026-03-19
DOI
10.1177/10506519261433024
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Topics
discourse analysis social media affect and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (15)

  1. Gelms et al. (2024)
    (Re)defining “Professional” in Technical & Professional Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Walwema et al. (2024)
    The Ethics of Inclusion, Exclusion, and Protection in<i>The Green Book</i>
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Moeggenberg et al. (2022)
    Trans Oppression Through Technical Rhetorics: A Queer Phenomenological Analysis…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Walwema et al. (2022)
    Introduction to Special Issue on 21st-Century Ethics in Technical Communication…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Itchuaqiyaq et al. (2022)
    Sex Work and Professional Risk Communication: Keeping Safe on the Streets
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 15 →
  1. Ramler (2021)
    Queer Usability
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Hope (2021)
    Protecting Pandemic Conversations: Tracing Twitter’s Evolving Content Policies …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Gallagher et al. (2020)
    Peering into the Internet Abyss: Using Big Data Audience Analysis to Understand…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Edwards (2018)
    Circulation Gatekeepers: Unbundling the Platform Politics of YouTube's Content ID
    Computers and Composition
  5. Colton et al. (2017)
    From NoobGuides to #OpKKK: Ethics of Anonymous’ Tactical Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  6. Graham et al. (2015)
    Statistical Genre Analysis: Toward Big Data Methodologies in Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. Pigg (2014)
    Coordinating Constant Invention: Social Media's Role in Distributed Work
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  8. Markel (2010)
    Monitoring Changes to Federal Health IT Privacy Policy: A Case Study in Punctua…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Markel (2005)
    The Rhetoric of Misdirection in Corporate Privacy-Policy Statements
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Katz (1992)
    The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust
    College English
Also cites 16 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1109/TPC.2020.2988757
     ↗
  2. 10.7330/9781607328063
     ↗
  3. 10.1109/TPC.2007.908729
     ↗
  4. 10.1145/3472714.3473628
     ↗
  5. 10.37514/TPC-B.2023.1923.2.13
     ↗
  6. 10.14763/2020.4.1512
     ↗
  7. 10.1111/josp.12050
     ↗
  8. 10.1109/TPC.2022.3228026
     ↗
  9. 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036214.001.0001
     ↗
  10. 10.1109/47.650006
     ↗
  11. 10.4324/9781003190257
     ↗
  12. 10.7551/mitpress/10916.001.0001
     ↗
  13. 10.1109/TPC.2019.2946942
     ↗
  14. 10.37514/TPC-B.2023.1923.2.33
     ↗
  15. 10.1017/9781108666428
     ↗
  16. 10.1017/9780511844317.005
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Dec 2025
    Empowering Product Teams to Advance Inclusive Language and Mitigate Hateful Speech on Social Media Products ↗
    Genevieve Smith; Gabriella Licata; Ishita Rustagi
    multimodality social media affect and writing
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly Nov 2025
    “That’s What You’re Supposed to Do on Twitter”: Emotion, Affect, and Positivity in Online Climate Science Communication ↗
    Shelton Weech
    social media scientific writing affect and writing
  3. Philosophy & Rhetoric Sep 2024
    Rhetoric Is Dead? The Fear of Stasis Behind Post-Truth Rhetoric ↗
    Eric S. Jenkins
    multimodality social media race and writing affect and writing
  4. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Mar 2024
    The Impact of Company Field Trips and Representative Image on Students’ CSR Knowledge Sharing Intentions ↗
    The Anh Phan; Tran-Thuy-Duong Ninh
    multimodality social media affect and writing
  5. Peitho Jan 2024
    �It Helps Me Feel More Comfortable�: Creating an Affective Public to Build Confidence on Instagram ↗
    Faith Kurtyka
    social media affect and writing