Representations of Masculinity: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Framing Violence Positively 

Yusra Qasim Ali

Department of English Language, Faculty of Theology, Letters, History and Arts, National University of Sciences and Technology Politehnica, Bucarest, University Centre in Pitești, Romania

Abstract

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA henceforth) is applied in this study to examine the representation of masculinity and the positive framing of male violence in social media comments, specifically YouTube comments, in an Eastern society. The study investigates how language is used to normalize and positively justify male violence while consistently shifting blame and putting guilt onto female victims. It also investigates how gendered narratives of masculine culture shape perceptions of violence and victimization. Through an analysis of ten comments, the study identifies two primary patterns: (1) the framing of male violence as justifiable, often by portraying the female victim as responsible or deserving of the violence, and (2) the emotional bias in victim-blaming narratives that position women as responsible for the violence occurred to them. The findings reveal a broader cultural bias in favor of masculinity. The findings are reached by conducting a linguistic analysis and an ideological one in a form of discussion. Those are done adopting: Fairclough’s (1995) three-dimensional approach, Halliday and Mathiessen’s (1985) Systemic Functional linguistics (SFL), Goffman’s (1974) concept of frame and Entman’s (1993) concept of selection and salience framing.

Keywords: CDA, Gender, Masculinity, Framing, YouTube