FEMINIST STRUGGLES: THE LINGUISTIC BATTLE TOWARD A FEMINIST (NON-) INSTITUTIONAL IDENTITY. A case study on a Spanish University

1 FEMINIST STRUGGLES: THE LINGUISTIC BATTLE TOWARD

A FEMINIST (NON-) INSTITUTIONAL IDENTITY.

A case study on a Spanish University

Paloma Elvira Ruiz

Student number: 11311975

Thesis supervisor: Manon van der Laaken

MA Language and Society 2016/17

2 INDEX

1. Introduction……….3

2. Theoretical framework 2.1. Language and power: ideological struggles through discourse………....4

2.2. Gender, language and society……….10

2.2.1. Sexism, linguistic sexism and resistance………10

2.2.2. Gender and identity………..12

2.2.3. Identity and the virtual environment………15

2.3. Gender landscape in Spain: Spanish as a tool of oppression and resistance…..18

2.3.1. Spanish grammatical gender………18

2.3.2. Asymmetrical representation: for or against the linguistic and social change?...20

3. Research question and goals……….. 4. Method 4.1. Organisations under analysis………..25

4.2. Data………27

4.3. Procedure....………28

5. Analysis……….28

5.1. (Non-) Inclusive language devices………29

5.2. Topic……….39

5.3. Interdiscursivity………44

5.4. Intertextuality………..49

5.5. Identity……….55

6. Conclusion and future prospects………62

7. Bibliography………68

8. Appendix I……….73

9. Appendix II………80

3 1. INTRODUCTION

The present research aims to analyse how hegemonic narratives about gender are discursively resisted. Specifically, the study will focus on five organisations within the higher level of Spanish education that self-align with the feminist movement and that are involved in the struggle against sexism in the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. All these organisations are connected with the institution, but they have a different degree of institutionalisation that goes from statutory to non-statutory levels. Additionally, all of them disseminate their discourses by means of social networks, such as Facebook. Since this platform is the most used by all the organisations, the data will be collected from Facebook and will consist of a set of posts released by these organisations during a four-month period.

On the basis of this data, the research attempts to describe the discursive strategies that these organisations apply for the resistance against sexist practices. Furthermore, it will examine the role of these discursive practices in the construction of people’s social identities.

The thesis will start by presenting a theoretical background about the relation between language and ideology (Section 2.1). It will align with a particular approach within the discourse studies’ field: Critical Discourse Analysis. Since non-hegemonic gender ideologies are the main concern of this research, feminist nuances of this approach will be explored (Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis). Additionally, it will introduce Fairclough (1994)’s three-dimensional model of social, discursive and textual change. The thesis will also review the relationship between gender and language (Section 2.2.1) and the socio-cultural processes through with gender identity is constructed (Section 2.2.2). Additionally, the role of social media in the construction of (feminist) identity will be reviewed (Section 2.2.3). Section 2.3.1 will describe Spanish grammatical gender, with a particular emphasis on the asymmetrical linguistic representation of women and men (Section 2.3.2). Additionally, the role of the institution in the maintenance or challenge of sexist practices will be analysed. Next sections will include the research question and goals (Section 3); the description of the research procedure and data corpus (Section 4); the analysis of the data (Section 5); and a final section of concluding remarks and future prospects (Section 6).

4 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1. Language and power: ideological struggles through discourse

In the last decades, the analysis of discourse has become a central object of study in social sciences as a way of grasping the dynamics of society (Blommaert, 2005). As Bathia et. al (2008) point out, the social sciences have undergone a so-called “discursive turn”, which has lead to a progressive increase of interest in the study of language use. From this perspective “discourse” is seen as a form of semiosis, an analytical category to approach the study of language as a social practice (Fairclough et al., 2013). This conceptualisation implies that discourse shapes and it is shaped by the context: the situations, the institutions and the social structures (Fairclough et al., 2013; Blommaert, 2005). This dialectical relationship between discourse and context positions discourse as a socially influential tool involved in the conceptualisation of reality (Fairclough et al., 2013). It is important to bear in mind that the construction of meaning by means of discourse is not neutral, but it is rather marked by ideologies through which things and people are represented (Fairclough et al., 2013). Thus, discursive practices can help “to sustain and reproduce the social status quo” or contribute “to transforming it” (Fairclough et al., 2013: 80). The ideological loading is not only reflected in the production of discourses, but also in the ways in which it is distributed and consumed within the globalised world (Blommaert, 2005).

Since this research aims to explore the strategies used in the resistance against sexism, the identification of the ideological elements behind the production, distribution and consumption of this non-hegemonic discourse becomes a central issue. Among all the different branches in the field of discourse analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) seems to be the appropriate approach to this research due to its intrinsic interest in “the semiotic dimensions of power, injustice, abuse, and political-economic or cultural change in society” (Fairclough et al., 2013: 79). CDA cannot be seen as a subdiscipline of discourse analysis, but rather as a stance for studying discourse as a social activity, from a multidisciplinary perspective (Van Dijk, 1995). It emerged in the late 1980s as an attempt "to uncover the processes by which ideologies of power abuse, control, hegemony, dominance, exclusion, injustice and inequity are created, re-created, and perpetuated in social life" (Strauss & Feiz, 2014: 313). This problem-oriented perspective resulted from the union of different theoretical models that aim to

5 understand how discourses become a space for power struggles, conflict and social differences (Blommaert, 2005). From this perspective, language is considered a central element in the construction and maintenance of ideologies, which are involved in the establishment of social identities and inequality (Wodak, 2013).

It is important to note that critical discourse analysts embody an explicit dissenting opinion to the social and political context (Van Dijk, 2012, in Wodak, 2013). Thus, CDA “openly and explicitly positions itself on the side of the dominated and oppressed groups and against dominating groups” (Fairclough et al., 2013: 80). Nonetheless, O'Connor (2003: 224-225) points out that "activist linguistics [...] does not mean that the researcher skews her or his findings to support one group or one ideology or another. Nor does it mean that a famous linguist uses her or his fame to support causes. Rather, an activist linguistics calls for researchers to remain connected to the communities in which they research, returning to those settings to apply the knowledge they have generated for the good of the community and to deepen the research through expansion or focus". This assertion constitutes an important point of departure for understanding the foundations on which CDA’s notion of critique is built. Having its roots in Marxist and the Frankfurt School, the term “critique” is understood as a way of explaining social phenomena and generating changes in them (Fairclough et al., 2013). Thus the critical analysis of discourse would imply the deconstruction of textual meaning by making explicit the implicit power relations, and the opening of a window for social change (Wodak, 2013). Some scholars consider CDA a political project itself that has to practice self-criticism (Wodak, 2013). In other words, CDA needs to be sensitive to its biases and be in constant self-revision to contribute to social change, attending to specific ethical standards to make its research interest and values as transparent as possible (Van Leeuwen, 2006, in Wodak, 2013).

In an exercise of self-revision, different critical discourse analysts have noted some sticking points in the ‘mainstream' CDA field. Specifically, Blommaert argues that CDA has focused almost exclusively on the top-down relations of dominance of the First World, not paying enough attention to Third World issues (Bhatia et. al, 2008). Thus, he draws attention to the importance of being critical when legitimating certain representations of history and social realities over others (Blommaert, 1997, in Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000). This revisionist position implies a reconceptualization of how power relations are discursively produced and resisted. In other words, it proposes

6 a reformulation of the agency of discourse participants, in which resistance -together with domination- become central elements in the understanding of power relations. Furthermore, bearing in mind the notion of “critique” presented above, it would be necessary to explain not only social phenomena linked to domination but also those connected to resistance. Thus, identifying how certain abuses are discursively resisted provides us with tools to progress towards social change. As Flowerdew (2008:205) points out, CDA should “take up the position of the less powerful” and “document their resistance in the face of the powerful”, which will make from its research agenda something emancipatory (Fairclough et al., 2013).

In an attempt of broadening horizons in the field of research, recent studies have focused on the role that social media networks play in the construction of dissent discourses within social movements. Specifically, in the frame of the Egyptian revolution, Idle and Nunns (2011, in Chiluwa, 2012) point out the importance of Twitter as a mean for disseminating a counter and emancipating discourse. Chuluwa (2012) investigated the ideologies behind resistance movements. He focused on blogs and discussion forums that the Igbo ethnic group of Nigeria uses to disseminate its socio-political claims against the government of Nigeria, which it accuses of marginalising them. By examining the discourse structure of these websites, Chuluwa (2012) documented the ideological and value judgements of the group, which may help to understand the Igbo conflict, their activities and the implication and consequences of their resistance.

Lazar (2007) points out the necessity of incorporating feminist studies to the research in critical discourse analysis. She proposes a "feminist critical discourse analysis" (FCDA) that aims to "advance a rich and nuanced understanding of the complex working of power and ideology in discourse in sustaining (hierarchically) gendered social arrangements" (Lazar, 2007: 141). Her contribution to the CDA field brings to light the biases in discourse analysis studies, which develop their analysis within the hegemonic patriarchal power matrix and do not confront the pre-existing gendered assumptions. A wide variety of studies were conducted within the FCDA frame, which have pointed out the discrimination against women in different fields. Specifically, Lazar has investigated how sexist ideologies are embedded in the advertising field (see Lazar 1993; 1999; 2000; 2004; 2006; 2007 among others). In one of her studies, Lazar (2007: 157) shows how English-language newspapers and women’s magazines in Singapore are shifting

7 from the representation of women as “passive objects for men’s sexual pleasure” to the presentation of women as “sexually autonomous, active and desiring objects”.Through a critical analysis of the combination of semiotic artefacts (images and language), Lazar (2007: 157) uncovers how these advertising campaigns aim to show a (fake) alignment with the feminist movement and women’s liberation by re-sexualising women, and passing from the “sexual objectification” to the “sexual subjectification”. Thus, FCDA offers a critical perspective to approach the study of gender ideologies.

This research will take into account these revisionist positions to the CDA research praxis and thus, it will focus on feminist social groups that resist hegemonic gender narratives and pose alternative ones by means of their social media discourses. Approaching the study of social change from Fairclough's Dialectical Relational Approach (DRA) seems to be the best option since it focuses on "the discursive aspects of contemporary processes of social transformation" (Fairclough et al., 2013). The model has its roots in Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics, which aims to analyse language through the social functions that it performs (Wodak, 2013). Furthermore, it draws upon the Foucauldian notion of power as something constantly resisted and challenged (Negm, 2014). From this perspective, relations of domination cannot be studied in isolation from their resistance responses, and power is not considered an inherent property of powerful groups, but something that is mobilised and constructed through discourse (Talbot, 1998). DRA incorporates these ideas in its attempt to develop an approach to the study of social and cultural change, which is understood in terms of discursive change (Fairclough, 1995). It is not to say that social change only has to do with the modification of language, but that changes in language seem to be highly involved in the process of modification of sociocultural practices in the last decades (Fairclough, 1992). Thus, this model proposes a link between the ‘macro' domain of the social structure and the ‘micro' domain of the discursive practice (Fairclough, 1995). Fairclough (1995: 187) proposes a three-dimensional framework to understand how these two levels are connected and to emphasise that discourse analysis must be done "onto systematic analyses of social contexts". These dimensions are interconnected and become progressive bridges between texts and contexts. Thus, the analysis cannot be seen as a set of steps to be followed, but as a holist approach in which the social aspect of discourse is placed in a central position. The textual dimension cannot be studied in isolation from the process of production and

8 interpretation (second dimension), nor can these processes be understood without a contextualisation of the socio-historical conditions in which they are embedded (third dimension). Hence, the context of production, distribution and consumption of text is understood as a part of the semiotic process.

In order to approach the analysis of the three dimensions, Fairclough’s model draws on the concept of "intertextuality”, as a way of establishing a connection between the text and discursive and sociocultural practice. Fairclough (2003: 17) considers intertextuality a property of texts and distinguishes between two types: “interdiscursivity” (or also called ‘constitutive intertextuality’) and “manifest intertextuality”. The interdiscursive property of texts is associated with the “mixing configuration of discourse conventions such as genres, activity types, and styles associated with different types of discourse” (Jian-guo, 2012: 1313). Thus, the textual analysis cannot be seen exclusively as a linguistic analysis but as a description of the heterogeneity of texts (Fairclough, 2003; Fairclough, 2013). On the other hand, manifest intertextuality is associated with the incorporation of one text in another by means of "techniques of discourse representation, presupposition, negation, metadiscourse and/or irony" (Jian-guo, 2012: 1313). Thus, by analysing which contents are incorporated, the techniques that are applied and the ideologies behind those textual incorporations, it is possible to establish a link between the textual properties and the social context in which the text is embedded.

The concept of intertextuality has its roots in Bakhtin (Jones, 2012). Bakhtin’s work draws attention to the dialogical properties of texts (i.e. the notion that texts "are shaped by prior texts that they are ‘responding' to, and by subsequent texts that they ‘anticipate'", generating a chain of speech communication (Fairclough, 1992: 101, in Jones, 2012)). Bakhtin proposes the term of "heteroglossia" to refer to the multiplicity of voices -genres, discourses, styles- that are found in texts and that put together different social languages (Jian-guo, 2012). Likewise, Kristeva (1986, in Fairclough, 1995:189) considers that this property generates the "insertion of history (society) into a text and of this text into the history". All these claims are crucial for understanding Fairclough's idea of social and cultural change. This inherent historicity of text is an essential characteristic that regulates to some extent the process of change within the social structure. It is important to note that changes in language use are not something mechanical, but that they are governed by societies and particular institutions, which set

9 up conventions or norms that dictate how language should be used (Fairclough, 2013). These conventions are referred to by Fairclough (2013) as “orders of discourse” and determine the directions of language, social and cultural change. Since “the boundaries and insulations between and within orders of discourse may be points of conflict and contestation” (Bernstein, 1990, in Fairclough, 2013: 45), Fairclough proposes to refer to discourse and power in terms of hegemony (Gramsci, 1971, in Fairclough, 2013). Thus, “the control over discursive practices” can be seen as a “hegemonic struggle over orders of discourse” (Fairclough, 2013: 47). Specifically, Fairclough (1992) proposes the concept of "technologization of discourse" to refer to those modifications in discursive practices that are oriented to the maintenance of the status quo. This particular contemporary form of discursive change is a top-down form of intervention in the discursive practices that aims to "reconstruct hegemonies in institutional practices and culture" (1992:8). Moreover, Fairclough (2013) refers to the incorporation of discursive practices from the private domain into the public one as a way of colonising the public discourse. The hybridisation of the public discourse can be done by adopting new discursive practices and resources (genres, styles, etc.) from the private domain and by the adjustment of the previous ones to the new contextual demands in the late capitalist society (Fairclough, 1992; Fairclough, 2013). Thus, these discursive changes can be seen as an attempt of the “elite” to take the control over the orders of discourse that govern the public sphere (Fairclough, 2013). As Fairclough (2013:51) points out, the consequences of these changes are the restructuration of boundaries between orders of discourse and between discursive practices (e.g. the incorporation on the gender of consumer advertisings in public orders of discourse, such as the gender of contemporary university prospectuses (for more information see Fairclough (2013)) and the instrumentalisation of discursive practices, “involving the subordination of meaning to, and the manipulation of meaning for, instrumental effects” (e.g. selling goods, services, etc), among others.

However, as Fairclough (1992) points out, hegemonic power is susceptible to be modified, which can be attested in discursive change. Thus, the discourse hybridisation referred to before can also be seen “as an appropriation of the private domain practices by the public domain” (Fairclough, 2013: 50). Specifically, due to the development of new technologies in the last decades, the digital environment has become an important space in which a massive amount of information, goods and people flows (Hodson,

10 2013). Thus, within this digitally connected society, the dissemination of a wide variety of discourses and discursive resources (genres, styles...) has become an everyday phenomenon. Some theories pose that this “digital revolution” has led to a more democratic access to information, while others argue that the actual data flow is still controlled by the dominant class (Bouvier; 2015; Hodson, 2013). In an intermediate position, Appadurai (1990) points out that the same means that are used to spread the hegemonic narrative can also disseminate a subversive or counter-discourse. Regardless of the different opinions, what seems to be clear is that understanding the spatial configuration of people, technology, global capital, information and ideologies becomes crucial for the study of the relations of discursive practices and orders of discourse.

2.2 Gender, language and society

This section will focus on a particular resistance movement to the hegemonic power relations of inequality between males and females: the feminist movement. Through orders of discourse and discursive practices (Fairclough, 2013), certain versions of reality appear to be imposed. Thus, understanding the interrelation between language and gender ideologies becomes crucial to grasp how the social structure and the status quo are maintained or resisted.

2.2.1. Sexism, linguistic sexism and resistance

Gender inequality and disparity in status and power between males and females constitute a significant social problem that has been progressively integrated into the social science research agenda (Lazar, 2007). Within the patriarchy -a hierarchical system of social, political, economic and religious organisation- women occupy a subordinated role to men in the public and the private sphere and are discriminated on the basis of gender (Varela, 2008). Patriarchal order interacts with other ideologies and power structures to "systematically privilege men as a social group, and disadvantage, exclude, and disempower women as a social group" (Lazar, 2007: 145). Thus, male hegemony provides this social group with greater access to cultural prestige, political power and wealth, among other things, while female participation in society and its visibility are restricted (Varela, 2008). Lazar (2007) argues that since gender ideology constitutes a hegemonic construction, it is usually considered a product of consensus and not a form of domination (Lazar, 2007), which is disseminated and acquired through societal institutions (Gramsci, 1971). Language can be seen as a crucial element

11 in the creation of consensus in the diffusion of the hegemonic practices since these practices "are constantly re-enacted and circulated [...] as commonsensical and natural" through discursive means (Lazar, 2007: 147). Thus, language both reflects and influences society, and the social landscape is (re)produced in patterns of language use (Talbot, 1998). This means that gender relations cannot be analysed just from the individual level. Instead of this, institutional practices should be incorporated into the analysis since they are structuring and structured by gender ideologies (Connell, 1987, in Lazar, 2007).

A large number of studies have been carried out in this field, and have brought to light the asymmetrical representation of females and males and gendered speaking practices. Lakoff (1972, in Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003) pointed out some linguistic differences in speech in English between women and men and argued that they (re)create a subordinate position of women in society. Thus, from this perspective, language itself is seen as a tool of oppression "imposed on women by societal norms" to preserve the hegemonic power relations (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003: 1). Lakoff's assertion opened the debate on the relation between language and gender, and two main paradigms emerged: the difference and the dominance approach (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003; Helliger & Buβmann, 2002). On the one hand, the supporters of the difference approach consider that the variation in speech between women and men derives from different socialisation processes (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003), and they attempt to identify those differences among languages (Helliger & Buβmann, 2002). On the other hand, the dominance approach defends that those differences are the product of male dominance and its continuance is a way of maintaining women's subordination to men (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003). This approach suggests that the way of overcoming these differences is by getting rid of the underlying inequality (Cameron, 1995). Authors such as Lakoff have defended the intrinsic interconnection between both approaches (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003). In the same vein, Thorne et al. (1983, in Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003) argued that the difference-dominance dichotomy was fruitless and urged the scientific community to pay attention to the context in which differences emerge. These contributions made possible the gradual shift in "language and gender research from the search for correlations between linguistic units and social categories of speakers to analysis of the gendered significance of ongoing discourse" (Cameron, 1998, in Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003: 4). Thus,

12 understanding how gender is socially constructed through discourse becomes the new object of study "under the rubric of ‘gender and language' research'" (Lazar, 2007: 144). As was introduced in Section 2.1, hegemony can be resisted. Castells (1997, in Flowerdew, 2008: 205) argues that "resistance confronts domination, empowerment reacts against powerlessness, and alternative projects challenge the logic embedded in the new global order". Specifically, it is in the frame of hegemonic gendered social practices that the feminist perspectives come into play as a "form of politics dedicated to bringing about social changes, and ultimately to arresting the reproduction of systematic inequalities between men and women" (Talbot, 1998: 15). It is necessary to understand the feminist discourse within a complex net of discourses, in which it struggles against hegemonic gender narratives that promote the discrimination against women. Thus, critical perspectives on gender construction constitute a response to the domination of males over females and aim to identify mechanisms of gender oppression to "raise people's awareness and stimulate social change" (Talbot, 1998: 15). Lazar (2007) draws attention to the important role of scholars in the resistance of social inequality and oppression. She refers to CDA as a form of analytic activism, in which "a feminist perspective reminds [us] that many social practices, far from being neutral, are in fact gendered" (2007: 145), and can be contested and changed. Thus, the critical praxis orientation of FCDA can be understood as an alternative project that opposes not only the hegemonic way of understanding gender but also the sexist biases in the linguistic field.

Having described the specific conflicts that derive from the patriarchal system, the next section will continue by reviewing how gendered discourses constitute and are constituted by the social structure (Lazar, 2007).

2.2.2. Gender and identity

The analysis of how social and personal identities are constructed is intimately related to the study of discourse (Lazar, 2007). Blommaert (2005) points out that people do not have an identity (in singular terms), but a set of identities that emerges from the participation in social practices. Identities are not considered something pre-fixed and stable, but something that is constantly changing (Talbot, 1998). Thus, identity is understood as a semiotic construct, and consequently, “it should be seen in the same

13 terms as semiosis: as organised by topic, situation, genre, style, occasion, purpose, and so on" (Blommaert, 2005: 210).

Since social order is maintained and challenged through social practices, the way in which gender is performed becomes a central issue for critical discourse analysts (Lazar, 2007; Talbot, 1998). Specifically, Lazar (2007) argues that within the FCDA's research agenda, understanding how people produce identities of "women" and "men" through linguistic and non-linguistic behaviours constitutes an important insight in terms of the establishment of unequal power relations between people. Butler (1993) brings to light the importance of seeing gender and gender identity as context-dependent constructs. Gender is performed on the basis of certain political and cultural settings, and "intersects with racial, class, ethnic, sexual, and regional modalities of discursively constituted identities" (Butler, 1993: 6). Thus, Butler defends that gender identity is not something pre-existing, but is the result of taking part in gendered activities (1990, in Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003).

Thus, gender constitutes a system of meaning that people produce, reproduce and change through action or performances (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003). However, Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2003:53) argue that this process of (re)production and change does not happen in "individual actions, but in the accumulation of actions throughout the social fabric" that confronts and breaks patterns and conventions set down over time. In this sense, understanding how particular verbal moves (the "concrete") become part of the public discourse (the "abstract") constitutes an essential insight for the discipline. Eckert and McConnell-Ginet refer to the concept of "communities of practice" (Lave and Wager, 1991, in Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003) as a way of establishing a bridge between the individual and the societal level. They argue that communities of practice -understood as an aggregate of people that gather around shared goals in some common activities- generate the development of common knowledge, beliefs, and particular social practices among members. Through the participation in communities of practice, people participate in society, and "linguistic influence may spread within and among speech communities" (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003: 57). These communities do not emerge randomly, but they are a response to the needs of social groups, which negotiate their enterprises (e.g. groups of disgruntled workers that start attending to sessions to complain about their employment status (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003)). Furthermore, the authors

14 point out that categories such as gender, class and race condition the participation in communities of practice by making it possible that certain individuals become more susceptible than others to become part of particular communities of practice (e.g. women are more likely to participate in childcare groups (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003)). Thus, the social order is reflected in these communities and experienced at the personal level through participation.

This idea is closely related to Butler's perspective about gender performativity, in which gender identity emerges from the engagement in certain social activities. Likewise, Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (2003: 58) point out the dialectical relationship between identity and communities of practice since the self is constructed through the participation in these communities, and communities of practice are defined in terms of “the interplay of the identities being constructed within it”.

Gender, as a system of meaning, is represented by means of the language. Thus, gender ideologies are embedded in the linguistic system and put into practice through communicative events within communities of practice (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003). To become part of a community of practice, people need to develop not only a linguistic competence -knowledge of grammar, lexicon, etc.- but also a communicative competence (Gumperz & Hymes, 1972; Holmes & Meyerhoff, 1999), that enable them to use the appropriate linguistic resources in particular social situations. Consequently, becoming a member of a community of practice implies that the members negotiate the linguistic structure and adapt their interactions patterns and discourses to those that are characteristic of a specific community. This negotiation is related to the process of identity construction, through which members of communities of practice “may end up reproducing hegemonic identities" or challenging them (Bucholtz, 1999: 209). Talbot (1998) points out that hegemonic gender identities are intimately related to capitalist social relations Thus, both femininity and masculinity are offered as consumer products, that "force women to see themselves through men's eyes, and to cultivate feminine characteristics that they expect men to want from them" (Talbot, 1998:171). Additionally, Talbot (1998) argues that mass media and societal institutions play a major role in the maintenance of unequal gendered identities and aim to portray the hegemonic viewpoint as the only valid one. Nonetheless, female and male identities are not limited to these versions, and following Talbot (1998), it seems to be more pertinent to refer to them in the plural: femininities and masculinities.

15 Specifically, within the feminist movement, enhancing the visibility of the non-hegemonic gender identities becomes an important challenge to resist and combat sexist practices (Paechter, 2003). As an example of this, the process of construction of the “nerd identity” has been studied by Burcholtz. She (1999) conducted a study with a self-designated collective of nerd girls from a high school in the USA. Through the analysis of the linguistic resources (e.g. phonology, syntax, lexicon, etc.) used by the group, Bucholtz (1999) identified "positive and negative identity practices" that the members of this community of practice strategically deployed to reinforce certain desired attributes of the group identity (intelligence) or to distance themselves from a rejected identity ("coolness"). Additionally, the author argued that aligning with the "nerd identity" allowed these girls to escape from the "pressures of the hegemonic femininity- an ideological construct that is at best incompatible with, and the worst hostile to, female intellectual ability" (1999: 213).

Another example of how language can be used to perform "dissent" identities can be found in Bunzl (2000), who documented "gender insubordination" in Austrian gay males' conversations. Through inverted appellation (use of feminine references for male persons and vice versa), they challenge a socio-discursive practice embedded on hegemonic structures of heteronormativity (Bunzl, 2000; Flowerdew, 2008). This gender subversion intends to break with the traditional gender ideologies and to their original discriminatory meaning. Drawing on the existing tools of grammatical gender, this group resists and rearticulates the praxis of appellation in their conversations.

Jones (2001, in Flowerdew, 2008: 207) shows the strategies that gay males in China employ to "appropriate elements from dominant discourses of the Party-State and the mass media", which have marginalised them. Through the appropriation of stories and idioms from dynastic history, the group reassigned them new meanings and “inserted themselves into the nation’s mainstream narratives” (Jones, 2001, in Flowerdew, 2008: 207).

2.2.3. Identity and the virtual environment

The incorporation of new technologies constitutes another important challenge for the feminist movement. Digital sites facilitate not only the dissemination of feminist claims but also the creation of new modes of discourse and protests (Baer, 2015). Furthermore, the use of social media platforms has allowed people to develop “new ways of

16 maintaining, creating, or imagining cultural communities and identities” (Shi, 2014, in Bouvier, 2015: 150). Within the virtual environment and the globalised world, people’s location in space becomes less and less important (Hodson, 2013). Thus, the idea of community starts losing its physical dependency, and it is the possibility of being connected to the virtual net that enables people to gather around shared goals in some common activities. As Chiluwa (2012) points out, the notion of “online or virtual community”, as an aggregate of people that interacts within the virtual environment and shares norms and goals, is a helpful tool to approach the study of computer-mediated language practices. Likewise, Androutsopoulos (2006: 422) draws attention to the fruitful combination of that notion with the communities of practice framework for the study of those groups that “sustain a blended on and off interaction”.

The studies of online interaction have tended to identify language use on the Internet as a homogeneous phenomenon, completely different from other language practices and even classifying it as a new genre per se (Androutsopoulos, 2006). However, recent research in the CMC field has tried to demystify this notion by shifting the focus of attention from the linguistic/semiotic features that are applied in the online discourse (emoticons, acronyms, etcetera) to the study of online discourse as a social practice (Androutsopoulos, 2006). In any case, it is important to note that online interaction provides users with certain affordances and constraints that are not presented in offline interaction. For instance, Chandler (1999, in in Androutsopoulos, 2006) refers to that process of online identity construction as “bricolage” since, through the use of different “fragmented” semiotic artefacts (images, language...), users construct their online selves. Additionally, the “choice of screen names and message signature, use of in-group language, explicit self-disclosure, and the assumption of a particular role within the group” have also been identified as important resources that users can deploy to construct online identities (Androutsopoulos, 2006).

In the field of digital activism, different authors have draw attention to the so-called tendencies of ‘clickivism’ (clicking ‘like’ in platforms like Facebook as a way of aligning with social movements), as a substitute for political commitment (Dean, 2010, in Bouvier, 2015; Chiluwa, 2015). Additionally, linguistic studies of CMC have described discursive strategies that users apply to hide their identities when discussing politics, such as “deictic references to promote organizational voice” (Draucker, 2013, in Chiluwa, 2015: 270).

17 The online environment is also used to perform/construct dissident gender identities. Cook and Hasmath (2014) point out that Facebook pages can be used by social movement not only to convey and provide information about upcoming events, but also to engage with the central commitments of the movement. Specifically, Nuñez and García (2011) studied the process of online community-building of feminist collectives in Spain and pointed out two different tendencies in the way they manage their online spaces. The authors argued that one of the strategies aimed to “occupy” the web, by promoting the use digital activism to attack the structure of patriarchy, and the other intended to “inhabit” it, by creating a net of women in the cyberspace and promoting the feminist activism.

Based on the foregoing, it seems that becoming part of the social media community requires the acquisition of particular linguistic repertoires and the internalisation of certain conventions (orders of discourse) that guide the appropriate use of these repertoires within the community. Additionally, even though not all the users expect the same things from the online platforms, they are all constrained by the limited facilities that these online spaces provide. Thus, the activities the users can develop may differ within the specific range of possibilities that the platforms offer. For instance, some platforms only allow users to share images while others also permit them to release text or video, or even a combination of different semiotic artefacts, such as Facebook (more information will be provided regarding this platform in Chapter 4, Methodology). Moreover, as Androutsopoulos (2006) points out, the relation between the notion of online community and community of practice is undeniable. Since the organisations under study perform a mixed on and off interaction, combining both frameworks (“online communities” and “communities of practice”) seems to be a fruitful approach for studying the process of identity construction. Thus, taking into account the affordances and constraints of computer-mediated communication becomes a must for understanding how this specific textual practice is embedded in the “offshore”-globalised- sociocultural context. Within this framework, and focusing on the organisations under study, some questions arise. For instance, it is possible to distinguish common features among them, such as non-hegemonic gender values, and if so, does this mean that they constitute the same community of practice? Which are the minimum elements (values, goals, discursive repertoires, interactions, activities, etc.) that these organisations have to share to be considered part of the same community of

18 practice? Even though fighting for gender equality represents an essential pillar of the existence of these organisations, it appears necessary to take into account other aspects involved in the formation of communities of practice. Thus, the combination of both perspectives could shed light on the multiplicity of feminist identities/communities, which arise within worldwide alliances and power struggles against sexism (Nuñez & García, 2011).

2.3. Gender landscape in Spain: Spanish as a tool of oppression and resistance Since this thesis will focus on the resistance of linguistic sexism in Spanish, this subsection will start by providing a description of the Spanish grammatical gender and will continue by critically reviewing how sexism is embedded in the language structure.

The focus will be on Peninsular Spanish1, which has experienced a wide variety of changes in terms of gendered linguistic practices since the end of Franco’s dictatorship in 1975 and the growing of the feminist movement in the 1980s (Nissen, 2002).

Taking into account Gramsci's theoretical contribution regarding power and hegemony, institutional practices will be analysed as a way of understanding how gender ideologies are structured by institutions and vice versa. Additionally, following Foucault's rationale about power, the resistance movements against sexism are going to be analysed as a response to sexist linguistic practices.

2.3.1 Spanish grammatical gender

Spanish is a “gender language”. As Corbett (1991, in Nissen, 2002: 253) points out, the noun class has two genders - feminine and masculine- “which induces the same gender in other linguistic elements” (agreement property), such as determiners, adjectives, pronouns and passive participle (e.g. ‘la niña pequeña/el niño pequeño’, the-fem. little-fem. children-little-fem./The-masc. little-masc. children-masc.). However, there is one group of nouns that does not morphologically change because of gender. They have been referred to “nouns of double gender”. Thus, it is the referent that instantiates the noun as either masculine or feminine (e.g. ‘el/la periodista’, masc./fem. article journalist. The noun ‘periodista’, journalist, does not change and the referential gender (the article, the adjective...) determines the gender of ‘periodista’).

1

Since the organisations studied in this research are based on Madrid, the Castilian variant is the one that will be considered.

19 Spanish uses an inflexion system that is found in pronouns, nouns, adjectives and determiners to mark number (plural –s) and gender (-o/ -a, apart from minor exceptions: ‘Ø’ instead of ‘-a’, or ‘-e’ instead of ‘-a’). Teschner and Russel (1984, in Nissen, 2002: 254) point out that “99.89% of the nouns ending in ‘-o’ are masculine; 99.6% of the nouns ending in ‘-a’ are feminine; and 89.35% of the nouns ending in ‘-e’ are masculine”. Nissen (2002) indicates that in most of the cases when referring to human beings, a feminine and a masculine form is available (‘profesora’ and ‘profesor’, teacher-fem. and teacher-masc.), which could almost certainly be used and perceived by Spanish speakers as a linguistic marker of maleness and femaleness.

Regarding gender suffixes in Spanish, there is not a masculine derivational suffix as can be found in English (widow/er). Apart from those cases in which the masculine or feminine marker is attached to the words’ stem (‘niñ/ -a/-o’, children-fem./masc.), the feminine noun derives from the masculine form (‘profesor/ -a’, teacher (masc.)/-fem.)2

. Nissen (2002) also points out that there is no gender-marking through compounding, with the exception of those cases in which the morphological derivations are considered unusual. In these cases, the noun ‘mujer’, women, is used as a premodifier. For instance, since it is considered uncommon that women occupy a position in the diocese, the construction ‘mujer obispo’ (female bishop) would be preferred over ‘*obispa’, which is considered infelicitous (Nissen, 2002).

As in many other languages, Nissen (2002) points out that in Spanish, the masculine form works as the “unmarked” one. Thus, the masculine is applied by default to refer to mix-gender groups, both in the plural and the singular form and it is known as “generic masculine” (Nissen, 2002; Bengoechea; 2011). It is necessary to make a distinction between this feature and what is known as “epicene nouns” and the previously explained “nouns of double gender”. On the one hand, the “generic masculine” implies the use of a masculine form to refer to both female and males, even when there is a feminine form that can be applied (e.g. ‘María y Juan son buenos alumnos’ (masculine, plural, instead of the feminine, plural form ‘alumnas’), María and Juan are good students). On the other hand, “epicene nouns” are those that have only one gender (feminine or masculine) but can be used to refer either males or females, such as ‘el profesorado’(masculine referent + faculty) or ‘la persona’ (feminine referent + person).

2

There are some cases where a masculine form derives from feminine nouns due to historical reasons, such as ‘enfermero’ (masc.), which comes from ‘enfermera’ (nurse-fem.) (Nissen, 2002).

20 Thus, they can be considered to be neutral since a counterpart of the opposite gender does not exist (Nissan, 2002). Finally, as Nissen (2002) points out, the “nouns of double gender” cannot be confused with “epicene nouns”, since although the noun does not change, the gender is marked by the referent (see previous examples in this respect). Thus, since the masculine form is considered the “unmarked” one, the masculine referent of the “nouns of double gender” when referring to mix-gender groups would seem to be the preferred one (los periodistas’ to refer to a mixed group of females and males journalists, instead of ‘los y las periodistas’ or ‘las periodistas’).

The next subsection will review different aspects of the language that are considered to be embedded in sexist ideologies and the role of Spanish social institutions in the maintenance or challenge of these unequal practices.

2.3.2. Asymmetrical representation: for or against linguistic and social change?

The structure of the language system is intimately related to the asymmetrical representation of males and females in discourse (Nissen, 2002; Bengoechea, 2011; Calero, 1999). Likewise, the position that institutions and social groups hold regarding the use of (non-)sexist linguistic devices, can provide us with important insights about gender ideologies.

Regarding the grammatical gender asymmetries in Spanish, as was described before, Nissen (2002) points out the double standard of the unmarked nature of the masculine that seems to privilege the male representation over the feminine one. Bengoechea (2011) agrees on that point and also denounces the addition of “female” before professions, nationalities or ethnicity (e.g. ‘mujer árbitro’ instead of ‘*árbitra’, referee-fem). The lexicon is also subjected to criticism. Nissen (2002: 260) identifies differences in “designations for women and men, especially with respect to job titles”, such as ‘azafata’ (stewardess) for females versus ‘auxiliar de vuelo’ (flight attendant) for males, even if this second noun is a “noun of double gender” and could be applied to both males and females. Additionally, he found “semantic differences on the same lexical item, depending on whether the item refers to a man or a woman” (2002: 260), usually with implicit derogative connotations associated with women (e.g. ‘mujer pública’, a public woman, and ‘hombre público’, a public man. Nissen (2002) and Bengoechea (2011) argue that the first one is understood as a prostitute and the second one as a politician). Lexical gaps have also been described by Nissen (2002) among

21 sexist practices (e.g. the word ‘*soldada’, soldier-fem, is considered infelicitous and there is not a feminine form of the noun “soldier”). In the same vein, Bengoechea (2011:36-37) denounces the “asymmetrical naming of the sexes” (e.g. women are usually called by their first name, while men are called by their family names); “the uses of a belittling article before a woman’s family name”, such as ‘la Rodríguez’; “references to women by their sex, as compared to references to men by their job, nationality or ethnic group”; and “women’s definition as objects or men’s possessions” (‘Juan y su mujer’, Juan and his wife). Additionally, García (2001) ascribes this type of sexist practices to the so-called “syntactic sexism”, which are based on gender stereotypes and androcentric perspectives.

In view of this situation, different non-legislative and legislative measures were implemented -in line with other European regulations3- after the Spanish dictatorship, as a way of promoting equality between women and men (Bengoechea, 2011). Regarding the non-legislative measures, regional and national organisations started realising guidelines for a non-sexist use of Spanish from 1986 onwards (Nissen, 2002; Bengoechea, 2011). Among these recommendations, Nissen (2002: 270) points out that all the guidelines propose similar procedures based on: 1. “Propagation of the feminisation of words that refer specifically to women”4_{; 2. “Replacement of the} masculine form for generic reference by epicene words or by split constructions”5; and 3. “Avoidance of certain asymmetrical words”. In addition to this, some guidelines propose the use of conventions that include both women and men (“double form”), and that invert the patriarchal word order when referring to both of them (mujeres y hombres vs. hombres y mujeres, ‘women and men’). In the last decades, due to the increase in the use of computer-mediated communication, other linguistic innovations have become popular in writing, although most guidelines do not recommend it (Bengoechea, 2011). Among them, the “slash” (‘alumnas/os’, students) and the “dash” (‘alumnas-os’) are applied to include both genders in the same word. Additionally, the sign ‘@’ is used as an ending that represents both masculine and feminine forms (e.g. instead of writing ‘nosotras’ or ‘nosotros’, we-fem or we-masc., ‘-a’ and ‘-e’ are substituted by ‘@’). In

3 _{The Committee for Equality between Women and Men of the Council of Europe took legal measures to} implement non-sexist language among the official languages of the Member States in 1984 (Bengoechea, 2011).

4 _{In contrast to the non-sexist English’s tendency of creating new neutral lexical items, such as} fire-fighter, in Spanish, the tendency is to “feminise” already existing words.

5

Some authors have suggested the use of “generic feminines” instead of “generic masculines” as temporal strategy until equality of women and men has been achieved (Hellinger, 1989).

22 the same vein, the use of “x” or ‘e’ instead of ‘@’ is a common feature that can be seen in written samples (e.g. ‘nosotrxs’ and ‘nosotres’, we-fem and masc.). To the best of my knowledge, there is an absence of scholarly documentation of this phenomenon.

Regarding the legislative measures, Bengoechea (2011) points out that these measures have tended to be more directed towards recommendation than to instruction on the use of non-sexist language. Furthermore, it was not until 2007 that a national law was passed, which situated linguistic sexism as a priority to be tackled: the Organic Law 3/2007 of 22 of March, ‘For the effective equity of women and men” (BOE, 2007, in Bengoechea, 2011). Through this law, “non-sexist language must be established within the sphere of the Administration and encouraged in the whole array of social, cultural and artistic relations” (BOE, 2007, in Bengoechea, 2011: 36). Additionally, all public-funded projects in the communication sphere are obliged to present non-sexist contents and language (Bengoechea, 2011). Nonetheless, the implementation of non-sexist language policies in Spain has been hampered by “covert cultural policies and la [Real] Academia [de la Lengua Española, RAE]’s resistance; a lack of consensus over the relevance of language use in women’s social position; a lack of proficient users of non-sexist language; and a lack of sufficient elaborated corpora (specially vocabulary and genres)” (Bengoechea, 2011: 38).

These obstacles seem to be closely tied to institutional practices and ideologies. There is an important conflict between gender equality policies and the opinions held by the members of RAE. La Academia constitutes and institution that seeks to guard the language and its “correctness” and “purity”. RAE has openly opposed the non-sexist reform of Spanish and has referred to it as something “unnecessary and artificial from a linguistic point of view” (Real Academia Española, 2006, in Bengoechea, 2011: 39). This does not constitute a mere conflict of viewpoints between those that defend the reform and those that oppose it, but also a political conflict. Since the 2005 BOE resolution states that the administrative and legal spheres have to follow la Academia’s rules, a contradiction between the Organic Law 3/2007, that can be considered a pro-reform measure, and the BOE resolution arises. On the one hand, the government’s lack of attention paid to this gap in the legislation seems to make the State complicit in the maintenance of sexist language. On the other hand, this legislative contradiction makes the use of non-sexist language something fuzzy, “unsystematic and intermittent” (Bengoechea, 2011: 40). Furthermore, the lack of State commitment toward a

23 comprehensive reform of language implies that the proposed policies do not seek to make a far-reaching change, but just to provide people with tools to replace sexist expressions with non-sexist alternatives. Thus, the policies developed so far seem to act more as “makeshift solutions” than as real solutions to the problem. Likewise, Bengoechea (2011: 40) denounces that official genres, such as the legal or administrative ones, are embedded in sexist ideologies that assume that only males are the writers, interlocutors, and addressees of these kinds of discourses. Moreover, she argues that the current policies and guidelines do not address the problem of linguistic sexism in official genres since they do not provide people with a “set of non-sexist rhetorical practices for legal, administrative or media professionals”. This legislation gap has also consequences in the public educational institutions, which face difficulties in obeying both regulations. On the one hand, the academic curricula have to follow la Academia’s rules, but on the other hand, they have to obey the law that promotes the use of non-sexist language. Thus, this situation generates confusion among education staff and students that, together with the lack of formal training in non-sexist language and teaching materials, increases the resistance to the implementation of the linguistic reform (Bengoechea, 2011).

Specifically, in the frame of this research, understanding how educational staff and students negotiate their position within this legislative contradiction is crucial. One of the organisations that are going to be analysed -Unidad de Igualdad de Género- is an institutional body, and its creation directly derives from the implementation of the Organic Law 3/2007. Nonetheless, due to its institutional character and link with the Administration, it is also supposed to follow the 2005 BOE’s resolution. On the other hand, the student organisations that are also part of the study do not have an institutional character, and thus, they are free to express themselves as they wish. In this regard, understanding how both bodies struggle to create (new) meaning within this ambiguous linguistic context provides us with relevant information of how the resistance processes are built by means of the discursive practices. In this context, language becomes an element that shapes and is shaped by the processes of identity construction. This research will continue developing this line of thought to understand the socio-cultural processes of sexism resistance.

24

3. RESEARCH QUESTION AND GOALS

The principal focus of this research is the understanding of the discursive practices involved in the resistance against sexism. A preliminary review of the Facebook posts released by the different organisations under analysis shows that a common discursive phenomenon seems to occur: through this social network, the organisations appear to disseminate their claims and to oppose sexist practices.

On the basis of these observations, this thesis poses two research questions regarding the standpoint that “sexism is resisted/challenged through their Facebook posts”.

- Which are the discursive strategies (language, topic, interdiscursive and intertextual strategies) these organisations use in their Facebook posts to resist or challenge sexist assumptions and patriarchal power relations? Are there differences between them (between official and non-official organisations, and between the non-official organisations)?

- Are these discursive practices involved in the creation, modification or maintenance of people’s social identities? If so, are there differences in the processes of social construction of identities between them?

While most of the previous research has focused on the top-down power relations and thus, on how discursive practices are embedded on sexist ideologies, this study intends to address the problem from a different perspective. Instead of focusing on how the “Establishment” oppresses the “others”, it aims to document how the “others” resist oppression. Thus, the “oppressed” are considered agents of change. Additionally, contrary to the idea of resistance as a homogeneous phenomenon, this study aims to describe the ways in which different feminist collectives -with an unequal degree of institutionalisation- make discourse a “battleground” for their claims. In this way, the present thesis aspires to make visible and to promote the emancipatory potential of emergent forms of language, such as sexist language modalities, and non-hegemonic gender relationships.

25 4. METHOD

4.1. Organisations under analysis

The study will take the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain (UAM) as a case study, and will take into account different organisations that are involved -with different degrees of institutionalisation- in the struggle against sexism in this educational institution.

Regarding the official/institutionalised organization, “Unidad de Igualdad de Género” (Gender Equality Unit) is going to be studied. It constitutes an official body, and its existence is statutory due to the Organic Law 3/2007 (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2008). Thus, it is linked to the institution’s governance body (Vice-rectory of Cooperation of UAM). The aims of this organisation are to establish social awareness measures regarding gender equality; to make "equality status diagnosis" in the university; to promote gender perspective in the study programmes; to establish protocols to prevent sexual, moral and gender abuse; to support other actions that are developed in the university within the feminist frame; and to promote the use of the inclusive language in the university (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2008).

According to the public information that the UAM web page provides, “Unidad de Igualdad de Género” is a hierarchical6 and small work team. There are only three permanent workstations and another one that is reserved for one student from the MA Interdisciplinary Gender Studies from UAM. The permanent job positions are currently occupied by women, and one of them manages the social networks. The Facebook profile seems to be created in September, 2010, and currently it has 2565 followers.

In the frame of the non-official organisations that are involved in the resistance against sexism in the university, four student associations are going to be studied. Some of them receive funding from the institution to develop authorised projects, and others have their own financing methods, which make them more independent from the institutional control. Based on the information provided in their Facebook profiles and the UAM web page, all of them present themselves as feminist, but their practices, the ways of

6

The work team is directed by one of the members, and the others’ labour seems to be subordinated to the director.

26 organisation, the conditions of membership and the degree of involvement with other socio-political struggles are different:

- “La Diana. Asociación Feminista de la UAM": inter facultative, female single-sex association, with only female members. Their feminist struggle is linked to anti-capitalist ideologies. From its Facebook profile, it seems that the organisation joined to this social network in November, 2015. Currently, 989 people are following its Facebook profile.

- "UAMentiende": inter facultative and mix-gender association, focused on the fight for the sexual and gender freedom and diversity. They do not align with other social movements. The organisation was created in October, 2002, but the Facebook profile seems to be more recent. On the basis of the first profile picture, the organisation seems to have joined in February, 2013. Currently, 1007 people are following its Facebook profile.

- "Asociación de Estudiantes Noam Chomsky": mix-gender association from the Faculty of Psychology. They develop projects related to Psychology (socio-educational intervention), but also focus their struggle on gender issues and it is linked to other social movements (not specified). The most updated Facebook account is not a public page but a private one (Facebook friendship is needed to access). It was created in February 2011 and the number of followers is hidden. This association receives annual funding to bear the cost of some of their projects.

- "Asociación de Estudiantes Malayerba": mix-gender association from the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Sciences. Their feminist struggle is linked to anti-capitalist and anti-fascist ideologies. They focus on agroecology, food sovereignty, responsible consumption, student struggle and so on. It organizes a wide variety of events from which some money is collected as a way of self-funding. From its Facebook profile, it seems that the organisation joined to this social network in October, 2011. Currently, 1155 people are following its Facebook profile.

27 4.2. Data

The data for this study comprise a four-month corpus (October and November, 2016, and February and March, 2017) of Facebook posts released by all the organisations described above. These collectives are users of other social networks, such as Twitter, but the most updated one is Facebook. On the whole, a total of 299 posts were sampled (102 from Unidad de Igualdad de Género, 93 from La Diana, 19 from UAMentiende, 41 from Noam Chomsky and 44 from Malayerba).

Facebook allows the user to share photos, videos, written discourse, audio, events and other multimedia products. All these contents can be self-produced or can be shared from other users' profiles. Thus, the content creation usually becomes a co-production between users. Also, users can share a “status” (a feeling or an activity) and live videos. Additionally, at the time the data was collected, Facebook allowed the user to qualify the posts (or the own reaction to the post) under the label of “like”, “love”, “haha”, “wow”, “sad” or “angry”. Another feature of this social network is that it permits the users to comment on the publications, which might lead to an interaction chain between “sender” and “receiver(s)” or between “receivers”. These comments could also be graded under the label of “like”. Thus, this social network provides us with a lot of information of how users interact within the virtual space. Specifically, since this research is interested in analysing the discursive production of the mentioned organizations and its role in the process of construction of identity, the corpus of data of will include: text-based posts; shared images with text; comments and responses of the organisations; and “self-liked” posts.

The reason for considering these four months as part of the corpus is to try to strike a balance between the “busy” months and the “calm” ones, in terms of event organisation and promotion. On the one hand, multiple feminist events are organised in March, in connection with the International Women Day (8th March). Thus, it would seem reasonable that the activity on social networks increases during this month and the previous one in order to promote social mobilisation. On the other hand, October and November are months that would appear to be less active since they constitute the beginning of the academic year and no international feminist events are convened.

28 4.3. Procedure

In order to analyse the data, Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of social and discursive change (Fairclough, 1995) will be applied to uncover the discursive strategies through which gendered assumptions and hegemonic power relations are resisted. Thus, the textual analysis will be interconnected to the sociocultural and political context in which it is embedded. Since this qualitative research deals with a digital environment, it is important to bear in mind that not only the local context should be considered, but that also the global variables that configure the digital space need to be taken into account.

Regarding the first research question, in order to document the strategies that are applied by the organisations to resist sexism, the analysis will focus both in the textual and the sociocultural context in which the discourse are produced and disseminated. Thus, it will start by examining the (non-) inclusive language devices applied by the organisations (how they manage the linguistic resources). Then, the topic of the posts, the interdiscursive strategies and the connection between one discourse and another through content-sharing and quotation of sources (intertextual strategies) will be analysed.

Additionally, to answer the second research question, the discursive practices of the different organisations will be compared and examined as potential elements involved in the process of identity construction.

5. ANALYSIS

The analysis will be split into five thematic blocks that will each include information about the five organisations. The first block, “(non-) inclusive language devices”, will contain information about how the different organisations deal with the gender issue in Spanish. Thus it will compile the various uses of inclusive and non-inclusive language devices found in the data. Secondly, the block “topic” will review the main activities that those organisations develop by means of their Facebook posts. The third block will contain information about the posts’ textual structure and their interdiscursive properties. The fourth block will consist of a description of the posts’ intertextual characteristics by establishing links between the textual properties and the social context