Gender ideology and identity in humorous social media memes

摘要

This study investigates 'otherness' in gender identity creation in social media memes. Nineteen 'Correct Bro' and 'Correct Bae' memes from Facebook are purposively selected for the study. The analysis is qualitative in approach and is anchored on Incongruity Theory of humour and Gender Social Theory. Linguistic tools from Critical Stylistics are employed for the linguistic interpretation of the data. Specific gender otherness identified are the dependent other, irrational other, opportunistic other, weak other, and the unreal other. Humorous forms identified are parody, teasing, pun, and sarcasm among others. Otherness is constructed within these humorous forms with linguistic and rhetorical tools, such as structural opposition, lexical absence, prioritizing, repetition, and so on. The study identified that gender 'otherness' is expressed in humorous memes to either reinforce existing gender ideologies or challenge them. Also, humorous memes are not just created to evoke laughter but are tools for expressing new tendencies in gender ideological orientation in the society.