Gender mainstreaming campaign as a casualty of the online gender-based humor: A discourse analysis

Abstract

Cultivation of gender-based humor in social media encourages contrarian language to gender mainstreaming. Gender-based humor posed threat on how to deliver equitable gender mainstreaming campaigns through online. The goal of this study was to determine how gender-based humor impact gender mainstreaming campaign in sociolinguistic sense. There were 14 participants in the focus group discussion providing collective narratives on proliferation of gender-based humors in social media. The participants were language teachers, Gender and Development (GAD) coordinators, and GAD advocates. Discourse analysis indicated that language use in social media hampers the delivery of gender mainstreaming campaigns. Social characterization and social distinctions were prominent components of the humor language, which then cultivated gender normativity. Gender-based humor perpetuate stereotypes, promote discriminatory practices, and reinforce power imbalances through linguistic means. In larger scale, humor language influences the reproduction of humor culture in social media. Gender mainstreaming slows down because of massive cultivation of social belief systems. The problem lies on how gender stereotypes are normalized in society through language use.