Gender heterotopias in media content of Ukrainian youth organizations

Abstract

Despite gender stereotypes that are still firmly rooted in Ukrainian society, women are no less active than men as civic activists, leaders, and politicians at the local and national levels. This trend is also maintained in the youth environment, particularly within youth organisations. The article’s subject is the media discourse of youth organisations operating in Ukraine. The research problem is the gender component of the studied narratives. The authors aim to find answers to the following research questions: what kind of nouns do the studied youth organisations use in their publications? And in what context do they use these nouns when referring to gender? The research method is quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The study was based on all content created in 2018 by six youth organisations operating in Ukraine and published on the websites and Facebook pages of these organisations. The selection of youth organisations was purposeful. The criterion of media visibility was applied, which resulted in the selection of the Foundation for Regional Initiatives, Building Ukraine Together, Youth Corps, Youth Nationalist Congress, UKRAINER, and Plast. In terms of theory, the study is based on Bernhard Waldenfels’ concept of own space and Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia. The results of the study show that, firstly, gender plays an important role in the environment of youth organisations and their civic activity, secondly, the language used in the youth environment is not gender-neutral, and thirdly, gender appears in the studied discourse in four contexts: gender as a neutral category in a descriptive sense, gender to define the target group of an organisation’s activities, gender directly related to gender roles attributed to women / men, and gender as a direct threat to women’s activities. The study’s novelty lies in analysing youth organisations’ media space through the prism of Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia and gender criteria.