Research into the relationship between language and gender challenges group psychotherapy to pay attention to the significance of gender in shaping the language used by members and conductors. Language is a major resource in the creation of our gendered sense of self, with styles stereotypically associated with male and female. The linguistic culture of the group has stereotypical `male' and `female' aspects. The language of the therapist is critical in establishing linguistic norms, challenging or reinforcing gender stereotypes. The movement from these stereotypical styles, with the ability to draw upon both `male' and `female' characteristics, is a therapeutic movement. The absence of critical analysis of these aspects of language and gender in group theory witnesses to the power of the `social unconscious'.