Analysis of the Criticism and Defense of Feminism in Social Discourse: A Case of Patriarchal Protection in Sports
The social discourse against feminism has become broader and more explicit. This is generating a controversy that is taking shape in various spheres. Our research shows this controversy by analyzing comments made on digital versions of newspapers about a gift awarded to female squash players at a to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Spanish |
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Universidad de Alicante
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Feminismo/s |
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| Online Access: | https://feminismos.ua.es/article/view/27722 |
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| author | Carolina Vázquez Rodríguez Carmen Martínez Martínez Inés Herás Maite Martín-Aragón Gelabert M.ª Carmen Terol Cantero |
| author_facet | Carolina Vázquez Rodríguez Carmen Martínez Martínez Inés Herás Maite Martín-Aragón Gelabert M.ª Carmen Terol Cantero |
| author_sort | Carolina Vázquez Rodríguez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The social discourse against feminism has become broader and more explicit. This is generating a controversy that is taking shape in various spheres. Our research shows this controversy by analyzing comments made on digital versions of newspapers about a gift awarded to female squash players at a tournament in the north of Spain in 2019, which included a vibrator, an electric foot file, and hair removal wax. From forty headlines in Spanish, Latin-American and British newspapers, the obtained data set were 1,279 comments. Using a thematic analysis, the comments were classified in six subthemes: gender, offense, politics, patriarchal sexuality, context, and sponsor. The subthemes were grouped in three themes: new misogyny, sexist outrage and corporate advocacy. Two conflicting discourses, both based on two opposites men/women, equality/discrimination, show the social and political conflict in Spanish society. However, the sponsoring company is not questioned. Gender appears as a performative act whose reproduction maintains a tense relationship between what is presented as two different images of women: real/normal versus feminist. Results indicate that the comments reflect deep-rooted attitudes about gender and power, using ambivalent sexism and anti-feminist rhetoric to maintain the status quo, and how corporate sponsorship is presented as a justification mechanism. The debate focuses on the social discourse that pits the feminist model against the patriarchal one, understood as an epistemological stance. From the so-called new misogyny, which presents men as discriminated against, a false parallelism is used that misrepresents the concept of equality, accepts a pre-discursive order on women’s sexuality and neoliberalism through the defence of the corporate market. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e6cbb7b0065d44b2967a8d4bfd23edd3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1989-9998 |
| language | Spanish |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Universidad de Alicante |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Feminismo/s |
| spelling | doaj-art-e6cbb7b0065d44b2967a8d4bfd23edd32025-01-21T12:32:01ZspaUniversidad de AlicanteFeminismo/s1989-99982025-01-014526529410.14198/fem.2025.45.1035935Analysis of the Criticism and Defense of Feminism in Social Discourse: A Case of Patriarchal Protection in SportsCarolina Vázquez Rodríguez0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8719-413XCarmen Martínez Martínez1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5600-2863Inés Herás2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7285-4353Maite Martín-Aragón Gelabert3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6562-6184M.ª Carmen Terol Cantero4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3445-8883Universidad Miguel HernándezUniversidad de MurciaUniversidad de SalamancaUniversidad Miguel HernándezUniversidad Miguel HernándezThe social discourse against feminism has become broader and more explicit. This is generating a controversy that is taking shape in various spheres. Our research shows this controversy by analyzing comments made on digital versions of newspapers about a gift awarded to female squash players at a tournament in the north of Spain in 2019, which included a vibrator, an electric foot file, and hair removal wax. From forty headlines in Spanish, Latin-American and British newspapers, the obtained data set were 1,279 comments. Using a thematic analysis, the comments were classified in six subthemes: gender, offense, politics, patriarchal sexuality, context, and sponsor. The subthemes were grouped in three themes: new misogyny, sexist outrage and corporate advocacy. Two conflicting discourses, both based on two opposites men/women, equality/discrimination, show the social and political conflict in Spanish society. However, the sponsoring company is not questioned. Gender appears as a performative act whose reproduction maintains a tense relationship between what is presented as two different images of women: real/normal versus feminist. Results indicate that the comments reflect deep-rooted attitudes about gender and power, using ambivalent sexism and anti-feminist rhetoric to maintain the status quo, and how corporate sponsorship is presented as a justification mechanism. The debate focuses on the social discourse that pits the feminist model against the patriarchal one, understood as an epistemological stance. From the so-called new misogyny, which presents men as discriminated against, a false parallelism is used that misrepresents the concept of equality, accepts a pre-discursive order on women’s sexuality and neoliberalism through the defence of the corporate market.https://feminismos.ua.es/article/view/27722womenpatriarchyneosexismfeminismmodern misogynysocial discourseequalitythematic analysissportswomen |
| spellingShingle | Carolina Vázquez Rodríguez Carmen Martínez Martínez Inés Herás Maite Martín-Aragón Gelabert M.ª Carmen Terol Cantero Analysis of the Criticism and Defense of Feminism in Social Discourse: A Case of Patriarchal Protection in Sports Feminismo/s women patriarchy neosexism feminism modern misogyny social discourse equality thematic analysis sportswomen |
| title | Analysis of the Criticism and Defense of Feminism in Social Discourse: A Case of Patriarchal Protection in Sports |
| title_full | Analysis of the Criticism and Defense of Feminism in Social Discourse: A Case of Patriarchal Protection in Sports |
| title_fullStr | Analysis of the Criticism and Defense of Feminism in Social Discourse: A Case of Patriarchal Protection in Sports |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis of the Criticism and Defense of Feminism in Social Discourse: A Case of Patriarchal Protection in Sports |
| title_short | Analysis of the Criticism and Defense of Feminism in Social Discourse: A Case of Patriarchal Protection in Sports |
| title_sort | analysis of the criticism and defense of feminism in social discourse a case of patriarchal protection in sports |
| topic | women patriarchy neosexism feminism modern misogyny social discourse equality thematic analysis sportswomen |
| url | https://feminismos.ua.es/article/view/27722 |
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