Semester Award Granted
Spring 2025
Submission Date
May 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
J. Lotus Seeley
Thesis/Dissertation Co-Chair
Jane Caputi
Abstract
This thesis explores online discourse between users on social media platforms, specifically Instagram, in an effort to better understand the patriarchal influence on American social culture. Users on the platform regularly write off misogynistic comments as simply “dark humor” or an extreme expression of one’s “freedom of speech.” At the same time, supportive comments are also influenced by those same misogynistic expectations. I argue that misogynistic thinking in comments and a willingness to uphold them for social bonding provides deeper insights into our society’s attitudes towards women, their roles, and conceptions of femininity in general. I conducted a content analysis that analyzed social interactions within comment sections of randomly selected posts on Instagram that featured women in an attempt to articulate the patriarchal “logic” within the discussions. Determining what within the post instigated specific comments from users can help to provide insight into the ways patriarchy normalizes itself in our social interactions on and offline.
Recommended Citation
Mierzejewski, Emma, "“THIS GENERATION OF WOMEN IS FINISHED”: MISOGYNY AS SOCIAL BONDING ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND PATRIARCHAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF FEMININITY" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 52.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/52