Gender Blindness in Mediascape

Abstract

Media representations have always been seen as a site of power struggles. Often, media ‎imbalances embody layers of meaning embedded in an ethnocentric notion of history of societies and ‎depicting non-Western as subaltern identities. This research paper starts from a feminist constructionist and intersectional perspective to understand the values, beliefs and ideologies beneath narratives of ‎journalistic texts and readers’ comments. We use as a case study the Portuguese mainstream media ‎coverage of the burkini-bans in France and the readers’ comments, which were examined through critical‎ thematic analysis. Not surprisingly, while the Portuguese news media seek neutrality, readers’ comments‎ are overall highly fuelled by a variety of orientalist stereotypes against Muslim women. As equally ‎significant, there is a lack of gender-based discussion in public conversations on this issue. Thus, the ‎results reveal that the media landscape is far beyond challenging the status quo of the West’s hegemonic ‎position towards women who are perceived as Others.‎