Discursive Representation of Queer and Transgender Identities in Ideologically Polarized Political Discourse on Twitter and Online Ideology: A Corpus-Based Study

Abstract

This study explores the discursive presentation of queer and transgender identities in politically polarized ideology on Twitter, and how online ideology affects identity formation, inclusion and exclusion. Social media, and Twitter, in particular, have become the focal points of political discussion in which gender diversity is often challenged using polarized discourses. It is in this context that the study intends to analyze the effect of conflicting ideological standpoints in the linguistic coding of the concept of queer and transgender identities in political discourse. The study takes a quantitative corpus linguistics approach to Critical Discourse Analysis with a qualitative approach of discourse interpretation. The theoretical framework combines the Critical Discourse Analysis, Ideology and Discourse Theory and Queer Theory, which allows exploring the power, ideology, and gender performativity of online discourse. Public English-language political tweets are gathered by way of key word and hash tag searches on predetermined political period. The two comparable corpora used to represent the progressive and conservative ideological stands are constructed using a purposive and stratified method of sampling. Results indicate the definite ideological polarization of the manifestation of queer and transgender identities. These identities are largely legitimized by progressive discourses, using rights-based and inclusive frames; and often delegitimized by conservative discourses, using moral, ideological, and biological discourses. The paper concludes that polarized online discourse makes gender identity to become a symbolic location of ideological antagonism. The paper suggests more robust platform governance, counter-discourse that is comprehensive, and increased corpus-based research to be conducted in a variety of socio-political settings.