RESISTANCE AND REINFORCEMENT: A FEMINIST CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF HASHTAGS AND DIGITAL CAMPAIGNS

Abstract

This paper aims to develop a critical understanding of digital media in Pakistan and its contributions to the creation, reproduction, and reinforcement, as well as subversion, of gendered stereotypical identities through hashtag campaigns. Based on the analytical benefits of feminist critical discourse analysis provided by Lazar (2007), the current paper will explore the discursive means of digital campaigns to emphasize the discourses of femininity, masculinity, and gendered power relations. Twitter (X) and Instagram tweets were chosen by latent content analysis and analyzed in more detail by means of the ideological framing, linguistics, and intertextual analysis. The findings of the paper bring out the issue of a perennial conflict between feminist and antifeminist ideologies of description. Feminist hashtags support body autonomy, female agency, and gender-neutral performances, while counter-hashtags positively reinforce patriarchal standards by means of moral control and naturalization of masculine dominance. The paper argues that digital spaces act as a larger social structure whereby language is both reproductive and resistant to gender norms and values.