Writer

I write about gendered language. The version of it people actually speak, not the version that lives in a linguistics journal.

Most of it goes out through my Substack, where I publish essays on intentional language, the patterns hiding in everyday speech, and the slow work of noticing what you're saying before you say it. New pieces go out monthly, give or take.

Dr Alice Ashcroft, a white woman with tattoos and red hair is looking down at her writing on a table.
A close up of Alice's hands writing on her tablet and annotating "In My Own Words", the name of her substack

What I write about

The theme is gender, language, and the gap between what we mean and what we transmit.

Some recent topics:

  • Headlines that bury women in their own stories ("Wife of footballer, 34, dies in crash" is a real one)

  • The grammar of tradwife and incel content, which turns out to be doing the same job from opposite directions

  • Job ads, and the eleven or so words that quietly tell women not to apply

  • The chatbots we made women on purpose, and what that's done to all of us

If a sentence is making someone smaller, I'm probably interested in it.

I'm represented by Bergstrom Studio. For book, film, TV, and related rights enquiries, please go through them.

For journalism, speaking, podcast appearances, or anything else, the contact page is the right door.

Where to start if you’re new

Four Questions Louis Theroux Didn't Ask by Alice Ashcroft, PhD

Everyone's talking about Inside the Manosphere. But the conversation is missing something.

Read on Substack

You read *how many* books??? by Alice Ashcroft, PhD

Goal setting and (yes, again) capitalism...

Read on Substack

The World Won’t Let Us Watch Things Slowly by Alice Ashcroft, PhD

Intentional living has felt impossible these last weeks...

Read on Substack

Selected journalism and features

My words, writing and research have been covered or quoted in The Guardian, the Financial Times, the Independent, and on BBC Introducing.