MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: GENDER DIMENSION

MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: GENDER DIMENSION

Author:  E.S. Gritsenko

Affiliation:  National Research University Higher School of Economics

Abstract:  The paper focuses on the discourse surrounding a resonate media event connected with the discussion of contested statements concerning domestic violence made by a popular Russian TV-host and blogger.

We use feminist critical discourse analysis and analysis of the sociocultural context of discourse to explore the strategies employed to resolve the conflict and highlight the ways global discourses on gender and violence are localized. We show how linguistic representations promote abuse-sustaining discourses or question the gendered ideologies of male violence against women and challenge the social system that condones gender-based violence.

The study revealed heterogeneity of gender attitudes, varying (gender-based) degrees of tolerance to statements about domestic violence, the ineffectiveness of the appeal to Anglophone discourses on gender and the effectiveness of a strategy based on the knowledge and experience of “one’s own” social culture. The persistence of patriarchal values in the discourse on domestic violence is supported by widely used strategies of degendering the violence and gendering the blame.

Keywords:  discourse, discursive strategies, sociocultural context, gender, gender stereotypes, gender role.

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For citation:  Gritsenko, E. S. (2020). Media representations of domestic violence: gender dimension. Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki, 3, 132-141. (In Russ.).

Pages:  132-141