Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis Research Articles

Decoding the apple paradox: a critical discourse analysis of gender, technology, and nationalism in China’s digital space

This research explores the intricate nexus of gender, technology, nationalism, and misogyny within the context of China’s digital realm. Positioned against the backdrop of an internet celebrity’s accusation towards Apple, the study critically examines a uniquely crafted narrative that adds socio-cultural dimensions to Apple’s perceived network misrepresentations. Female iPhone users are strategically criticized as intellectually inferior influencers of societal contributions, reflecting prevalent discussions regarding 5G technology. The narrative further stigmatizes female iPhone users with implications of involvement in sex work, leading to significant brand implications. Rooted in the framework of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) and assisted with the approach of corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis (CADA), this study deciphers the complex narrative, focusing on themes of cyber misogyny, economic stratification, and nationalism. The research further reveals how this criticism toward female iPhone users extends beyond mere resentment, unveiling deeper foundations of nationalism and threat perceptions toward traditional phallocentric dominance. The term “traitors” allocated to female iPhone users rationalizes the ongoing assaults as patriotic endeavors, bellwethering toxic nationalism that marginalizes minoritized individuals. This scholarly examination underscores social media platforms, with a focus on Douyin, as potent venues for reinforcing gender bias, particularly through their algorithmic recommendations, content moderation practices, and governance models. This delineation emphasizes the critical need for ongoing sociocultural and digital discourse to challenge and mitigate these dominant, biased narratives.

Welcome to this Brave Bro’s World: the (Re)production of hegemonic masculinity in a Chinese manosphere

ABSTRACT Building on a feminist critical discourse analysis, this study reveals the mechanism of the continuous reproduction of hegemonic masculinity in a Chinese manosphere, Hupu, the biggest sports fandom platform in China. As an ideological foundation on Hupu, hegemonic masculinity directs misogynistic practices (e.g. sexualization of women and misogynistic lexicon development) and shapes an imagined community of toxic brotherhood. In turn, the misogynistic practices and this community of brotherhood also reproduce hegemonic masculinity, ensuring a cycle of the maintenance of a toxic manosphere. We further consider the socio-political context in contemporary China to criticize how state power, platform affordances, and hegemonic masculinity are intertwined and jeopardize Chinese feminism both online and offline.

Representation and Negotiation of Masculinities in South Asian English Fiction: Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis

This study traces the representation and negotiation of masculinities in Shamsie’s Home Fire. The analysis and discussion are based, on the one hand, on the deconstruction of Connell’s (1995) models of hegemonic masculinities in the novel and, on the other hand, on the exploration of alternative reshaping and more dialogical models of masculinities as stated in the theory of performativity by Judith Butler (1990, 1999) and represented in the selected fiction. For the data analysis, theoretical insights were taken from the feminist critical discourse analysis. The findings of the study reveal that individuals acknowledge themselves either as masculine or feminine referring to their gender identity. Sociologists intend to refer to gender as an essential status because it is widely recognized as a significant factor in determining identity, involvement in institutions, socialization, and opportunities in life. The negotiation of masculinities is suggested to make society more humane and balanced where individuals express their potential and personality according to their own choices.

Veiling as free choice or coercion: Banal religion, gender equality, and Swedish identity on Instagram

Abstract In this article, we analyse implicit connections between gender equality and particular forms of religion in Sweden, as expressed in political discourse and social media debates. Instagram posts responding to the Christian Democrats [Kristdemokraterna] political party's proposal to ban the wearing of veils in Swedish primary schools in 2021 were analysed through methods of co-occurrence analysis and feminist critical discourse analysis. By applying the concept of banal religion from mediatisation of religion theory, the results reveal how implicit connections between veiling as opposed to gender equality in the proposal turn into explicit debates on Instagram regarding what kind of religious practice is compatible with Swedish identity and values. This reveals the ambiguous nature of Instagram as a digital platform that may enhance hegemonic ideas of gender, ethnic, and religious identities, but that may also enable Muslim women to challenge understandings of Islam and gender equality in the public debate.

Representations of Motherhood and Mothering in Popular Sinhala Lullabies

Popular Sinhala lullabies passed down orally from generation to generation occupy an ambiguous and neglected space within Sri Lankan music. Nonetheless, when examined closely, these lullabies offer rich and nuanced interpretations of female experiences, particularly concerning motherhood and mothering. These songs either reinforce or challenge patriarchal concepts within their intertextual frameworks. The primary aim of this study was to conduct a feminist critical discourse analysis of selected Sinhala lullabies to explore how they portray the dilemmas faced by women who are mothers or who aspire to be, caught between traditional expectations and the realities of becoming biological mothers. The findings demonstrate how these lullabies capture the complexities of Sinhalese women's experiences, reflecting their frustrations, emotional and physical suffering, and joyful connections with their children. Although the singers of these lullabies remain anonymous, their voices continue to critically engage with societal ideals and standards, revealing the multifaceted nature of mothering and motherhood within the Sinhala community.

Challenging Discourses of Sexual Violence on X: The Linguistic Representation of Victims and Perpetrators in Kavanaugh’s Confirmation Process

In September 2018, American Justice Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during his nomination to the US Supreme Court. The sexual allegations provoked a crisis in American society concerning the rights of female American citizens and created a heated debate among X (formerly Twitter) users, who commented on the event and expressed their (dis)affiliation. Research has shown that X is one of the most sexist and abusive social media services due to the constant spread and negotiation of different discourses relating to rape culture on the platform (Mendes et al. 2018). Consequently, the objectives of this research are to examine the linguistic patterns and discourses employed by X users to denounce patriarchal oppression and negotiate the identities of the different social actors involved in Kavanaugh’s confirmation process. To do so, two datasets of posts (previously known as ‘tweets’) containing the opposing hashtags #KavanaughConfirmation and #NoKavanaughConfirmation were analyzed and contrasted drawing on Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis tools (i.e., keywords and concordances) (Partington et al. 2013) and Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (Lazar 2005). The results revealed a high presence of keywords concerning gender and violence to construct identities of victims and perpetrators. However, not only were such identities related to sexual violence but also political and institutional violence. In addition, the analysis revealed the creation of discursive protests on X to resist patriarchal discourses and practices in American society.

Challenging the gender binary in occupation-based research: A feminist critical discourse analysis of sex differences

ABSTRACT Gender is a constitutive element of an oppressive system based on sexual differentiation. Making difference between the female and male sexes is an accepted practice that is particularly widespread in scientific research. Yet, this research practice can contribute to the construction of gender as an oppressive system with consequences for people’s occupations and health. The aim of the present study is to address the potential contribution of occupation-based scientific articles in the construction of a gendered social order through the taken-for-granted use of sex categories. A literature review resulted in the selection of 22 articles published in occupational therapy and occupational science journals that differentiate individuals based on female/male sex characteristics. A feminist critical discourse analysis was used to make visible how these texts contribute to the construction of gender and their occupational and health consequences. Three specific mechanisms were identified in the analysis: naturalization, banalization, and sacralization. Together, they show the specific process of naturalization of care work as ‘women’s work’ and how it further constitutes a basis towards indifference and banalization of women’s health and occupational issues. Sacralization illustrates how full authority is conferred to numbers within science to justify research based on sex categories and how this contributes to reproducing one gendered reality over another. In conclusion, this study aligns with feminist and critical occupational science theories and contributes to epistemological disruption of the scientific construction of binary sexes within occupation-based scholarship.

Politics and Violence in Representation of Acid Attack Victims in the Media: A Feminist Discursive Perspective

Abstract In recent times, narratives of acid attack survivors have become common in the media (newspapers and magazines), showcasing them simultaneously as fashion models and victims of a heinous crime. In a similar vein, the Hindi film Chhapaak underscores the barbarity of an acid attack and the subsequent struggles for justice by the protagonist. Drawing on feminist critical discourse analysis and insights from Nancy Fraser on cannibal capitalism, this article analyzes the discursive construction of acid assault victims through select extracts from media articles and the film to highlight the politics of representation of the survivors and their ordeals against patriarchal and androcentric arrangements in society. Linguistic analysis (through speech acts, vocabulary, and presupposition) reveals contradictory discourses of celebration and discrimination in the media in relation to fashion, where the acid survivors are used not only to increase awareness about the offense but also to promote sales of garments. The discourses of rampant unemployment, gender-based oppression, and racial violence, despite laws regulating the sale of acid, underscore the cannibalizing tendencies of a capitalist society that seeks to devour and shun women after incapacitating them. Furthermore, the complicity of public agencies (legal, medical, and governmental) hints at apathy, callousness, and the systemic violence symptomatic of a profit-driven capitalist society.

Gendering, Jeering, and COVID-19: A Feminist Critique of Social Media Humor

This study aims to shed light on the stereotypical gender identities presented in the online humor regarding Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Pakistan. To uncover gender stereotypes, Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis provided a theoretical background for this study.The data consisted of 42 posts from social media (Facebook and WhatsApp)that were collected through purposive quota sampling during the lockdown period in Pakistan. These posts were divided into twleve thematic categories. A culturematic content analysis of the posted jokes revealed that Corona related social media humor is unanimously dedicated to creating a face-threatening image of females, especially wives. This article argues that wives are being constructed as callous, impatient, and materialistic beings through corona joke-posts.The study provides an insight into how jokes are ascribing gender identities of women, especially wives in a destructive persona.Such consistent negative representation of particular identities may result in severe emotional and psychological effects on both genders and increased marital conflicts. The study suggests that there should be balanced and positive discourses onmedia and other institutions to foster positive attitudes towards gender and marital identities in Pakistani society in specific and the world over in general.

Protection or commodification of women? Discursive construction of bridewealth on Chinese social media

ABSTRACT Bridewealth, the long-standing practice of groom-to-bride monetary transfer, is now facing growing backlash in China. Researchers mostly approach bridewealth from the perspectives of anthropology and economics, highlighting its social impact yet leaving public opinions on it less heeded. To fill this niche, this study collected the most “liked” 5,000 posts from Sina Weibo, identified dominant themes of bridewealth supporters and detractors, and analyzed how these themes are (de)legitimatized. Drawing on feminist critical discourse analysis and van Leeuwen’s analytical toolkit, content analysis reveals that supporters mainly see bridewealth as a protection of women, an investment in the new families, and a worthy tradition to follow, whereas opponents associate it with the commodification of women, financial challenges to men’s natal families, and long-gone feudal shackles. These themes are enacted with strategies like rationalization, moralization, victimization, and authorization. This study stands out for situating bridewealth in media studies and illuminating the contested public discourse on it. More importantly, given that most supporters are women and they bear the brunt of the family-work balance, the study also gives voice to the much-silenced women’s marriage-related concerns in institutional media so that their welfare and self-actualization can be accommodated in future policy-making.

Media representations of the ‘little fresh meat’ phenomenon in China: a feminist critical discourse analysis of the masculine nonconformity discourse

ABSTRACT ‘Little fresh meat’ (LFM or xiǎo xiān ròu), which describes a masculine aesthetic rooted in ‘soft masculinity’, is a phenomenon across Asia that challenges prevailing concepts of masculinity and patriarchal discourse. This study furthers previous research by using feminist critical discourse analysis to evaluate the construction of LFM masculine nonconformity, via data collected from 42 news articles from China’s English-language news media, including: China Daily, Global Times, People’s Daily Online, Shanghai Daily, and Xinhua News Agency. The analysis generated three key themes: (1) market driving a female consumer fan base, (2) challenging hegemonic masculinities when men wear makeup to imitate their ‘idols’, and (3) criticisms of gender stereotypes. These themes show how a masculine nonconformity discourse is developed by using a variety of discursive strategies in China. This study highlights the need for increased awareness and education regarding gender diversity and the harmful impacts of gender stereotypes on Chinese society.

Transgender Lived Experience in Social Work: A Critical Discourse Analysis

To date, social work literature regarding transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals situates TGD individuals as objects of social work knowledge and intervention. While this existent work represents an important foundation, it may foreclose other positionalities for TGD individuals. Therefore, this feminist critical discourse analysis of social work literature utilizes professionalization and transnormativity as conceptual anchors to explore the phenomenon of “transgender lived experience” in social work literature in order to understand both the nature of transgender lived experience and who is permitted to have it. Ultimately, this project found that transgender lived experience within social work is a totalizing discourse centered on a wholly painful experience of othering that can only be ameliorated through medical intervention. While this experience can confer expertise upon some individuals, transnormativity and professionalization operate in concert with this discourse to situate TGD people as transgender in the first place, foreclosing any other subjectivity. Therefore, future inquiry into the experiences of TGD individuals in social work must be willing to embrace epistemic perspectives and methodologies that emphasize the nuance and diversity of individuals’ experiences and resist totalizing grand narratives.

Judicial Constructions of Harm in Australian Image-Based Sexual Abuse Case Law: A Feminist Discourse Analysis

Despite almost every Australian state and territory criminalizing image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), which includes the non-consensual taking, creating, or sharing of intimate images, judicial discourse in this context remains underexplored. In this article, using feminist critical discourse analysis, we investigate how Australian courts conceptualize the harms of IBSA in 47 criminal and civil cases. We find that while the serious harms suffered by individual victim-survivors are widely recognized, judicial discourse on societal harms is limited, with little to no recognition of IBSA as a form of gender-based violence (GBV) in and of itself. This is significant for several reasons, including the overrepresentation of women victim-survivors and male perpetrators in our dataset, and the gender and other inequalities that often underpin IBSA. We argue that by adopting an inclusive gender-based approach, the courts can promote more nuanced, relational, and holistic understandings of the individual and societal harms of IBSA, knowledge of which is important for addressing this rapidly growing form of GBV in Australia and internationally.

A Case Study of Proverbial Treatment Towards Women in Balti Patriarchal Society

The present study seeks to expose how Balti society has discursively constructed gender roles by translating proverbs. It examines how gender ideology affects translation processes and techniques the translator employs when translating proverbs. The research analyzes 14 proverbs responsible for gender dichotomy, selected from the book “Tam Lo” by Hasni (2004). Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis has been taken as a research perspective used in this study. For research methodology, Farahzad's Model (2009) of Translation Criticism has been utilized by the researchers in the current study. The findings reveal that in Balti androcentric society, women are viewed as unable, reliant, dependent, submissive, fractious, unfaithful, rude, sentimental, deceitful, deceptive, crafty, dim-witted, and unreliable in the eyes of the public. The study also discloses that a translator's ideology greatly impacts the translation process. This research will contribute to the already existing knowledge on gender studies of Balti society in particular and translation studies in general. Furthermore, this research will help raise awareness among Balti society, particularly among men, to refrain from exploiting women. Additionally, it is anticipated that study readers will create a stance of abstaining from gender discrimination.

“Widow-style parenting”: the discursive formation of gendered parenting roles and popular feminism on social media in China

In China, content creators on noninstitutional social media platforms, collectively known as zimeiti, have sparked fervent discussions about “widow-style parenting.” This term is used to describe the lack of paternal involvement in childcare. Using feminist critical discourse analysis, this study explores how widow-style parenting is discussed in the context of popular feminism in China. Rhetorically, zimeiti articles aim to promote a more equal division of childcare between parents and reshape traditional masculinity. However, they fall short of achieving this goal because they endorse gender essentialism. This means they place the blame on mothers and reinforce their self-denial and burden. Interestingly, the reader comments challenge this discourse by questioning the structural gender inequality and demanding a change in the grueling work culture in China. These points are often overlooked by the articles because of their commercialized and depoliticized nature. The interaction between zimeiti articles and readers creates a dynamic space that both reinforces and challenges existing gender norms in parenting. This study is the first to investigate how ordinary people respond to popular feminism on social media in China. It enriches our understanding of emerging popular feminism and the evolving dynamics of family relationships in East Asia.

The narratives of Chinese women academics: exploring gendered career trajectories for those who are not leaders

ABSTRACT Despite women academics reaching higher positions, in institutional hierarchies they still face multiple tensions that hinder reaching leadership positions. 1 This study explores the perception of leadership among Chinese women academics who currently do not hold academic leadership positions. A feminist critical discourse analysis of 14 Chinese women academics’ narratives, using Butlerian theory, indicates that institutional discourses have been shaped predominantly by men’s norms and preferences, creating challenges for women assuming leadership responsibilities. The findings show that women and men academics appear to have different career trajectories, with men taking on more administrative roles and advancing further in their academic careers. For many women, leadership conflicts with family obligations, as families often take priority, consistent with gender norms. This study also reveals how social and institutional regulatory power, such as gender norms and institutional discourses, constitutes and shapes a gendered structure of academic leadership positions in Chinese universities.

Bad mothers vs good mothers of the nation: The dual faces of Tunisian women in terrorism and in preventing extremism

ABSTRACT This article seeks to critically examine how gender influences the interpretation and representation of women’s violence within the Tunisian public discourse. Far from being gender-neutral, the counterterrorism discourse perpetuates entrenched patriarchal hierarchies, amplifying imbalanced power dynamics within society. The study, utilizing tools from feminist critical discourse analysis, aims to shed light on how female involvement is depicted in public discussions on terrorism in Tunisia, and how this affects counterterrorism strategies and preventive measures in the post-revolutionary setting. This is achieved primarily by scrutinizing the discourse of jihād al-nikāḥ, and by exploring women’s roles in programmes aimed at preventing violent extremism (PVE). Emphasis is given to the depiction of women as mothers – viewed negatively when embracing political violence and positively when engaging in extremism prevention initiatives. While one narrative often paints women merely as victims or brainwashed entities, the PVE policies acknowledge women’s agency but instrumentalize it for security-oriented objectives.

Stigmatizing female success: The affective economies of leftover women in popular television dramas in China

This article sheds light on the media representations of successful women using the theorization of affective economies. We focus on four female characters in three popular television series: Andy in Ode to Joy (2016–17), Su Mingyu in All Is Well (2019) and Luo Zijun and Tang Jing in The First Half of My Life (2017). First, we begin by using television content analysis to examine the ways women are subjected to the paradoxical cultural values that stigmatize unmarried women as shengnü (‘leftover women’) while promoting the neo-liberal ideal of duli nüxing (‘independent women’). Second, to explore the affective economies of successful women and how feelings and cultural values are circulated among the female audience, we conduct an in-depth analysis of interviews with 21 female viewers in China. Third, we employ feminist critical discourse analysis to examine how these popular television dramas reflect changing gender norms in China, where new types of relationships are now deemed acceptable. We argue that these series have represented changing gender norms that successful women can achieve happiness by securing a ‘carefree’ romantic relationship, replacing marriage as the new happy ending.

The womb as Battleground: negotiating motherhood and feminism on Chinese Social Media

ABSTRACT This article conducts a feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA) of a widely debated occurrence within the Chinese public sphere, where a mother’s decision to accompany her six-year-old son into a female restroom ignited substantial discourse. Employing FCDA to interrogate postings on Zhihu, China’s preeminent question-and-answer platform, the research navigates the discursive construction of motherhood intertwined with the prominence of digital feminist narratives. It engenders a bifold analytic perspective by interweaving “digital feminism” with “C-fem,” a conceptual representation that integrates the entrepreneurial and dissenting elements of feminism within China’s unique socio-cultural matrix. Facilitated by FCDA, the study disentangles three salient discursive trajectories that forefront challenges to entrenched patriarchal paradigms. The emergent strands encompass discourses oscillating between lauded and scrutinized maternal figures, contending perspectives on sexuality education, and forceful rebuttals to gendered childbearing expectations. Collectively, these narratives contribute to a multilayered critique of normative gender constructs and signal a fortified agency of Chinese women in digital feminist praxes. Despite the pressures of traditional gender ideologies and state censorship, the study uncovers the burgeoning assertiveness of Chinese digital feminists, particularly within the non-cooperative C-fem contingent, who increasingly call for transformative societal change. This study not only highlights Chinese women’s negotiation with gender identities in the digital realm but also enriches the global discourse on feminism’s adaptation and resistance in authoritarian contexts.

The Grammatical Features of Vietnamese Journalistic Discourses about Women from Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis Theory

Basing principally on Fairclough's theory of Critical Discourse Analysis (2001) and Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar (1994), Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis was initiated in “Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis - Gender, Power and Ideology in Discourse” by Lazar (2005) is developed into a discourse research approach that sheds interest on the relationship between gender power and language or language use. Following this research approach, this paper outlines a detailed study of the grammatical features of journalistic discourse written about women in Vietnamese Women Newspapers, issues of 2021, from the perspectives of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, of which the grammatical features of journalistic discourse would be expressed in three aspects: experiential, interpersonal, and expressive values. More specifically, the experiential values of grammar were reflected in the transitivity processes, the interpersonal values were shown in modes of sentences, and finally, the expressive values were realized in the expressive modality. The study results revealed that the three most frequently used processes were material, relational and verbal. Besides, declarative sentence type was used most frequently, and there was very little likelihood of modal word use. These grammatical features were consistent with the news genre applied for newspapers while remaining ample contextual conditions for reflecting journalists' perceptions of women and feminism.