Gender, morality and violence in anthropomorphic metaphors depicted in Canadian political humor

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article considers the historical and ongoing use of gendered anthropomorphic metaphors in Canadian political humor. It asks how national and sub-national identities have been articulated through gendered bodies in Canadian political humor and what types of underlying cultural and ideological assumptions about citizenship are expressed in these metaphors? Two case studies of Canadian political humor were conducted and analysed through the lens of feminist critical discourse analysis. The findings reveal a tendency for political humor to use anthropomorphic metaphors to enforce cultural understandings of acceptable and unacceptable forms of citizenship. These discussions are highly gendered and often exist in conversation with intersectional issues such as race and class. Overall, these metaphors enforce the acceptability of white masculinity in Canadian social, political, and cultural rhetoric while framing femininity as a precursor to undesirable forms of citizenship.