A Corpus Study of Cyberbullying Metaphors Used on Social Media: Employing Conceptual Metaphor Theory

This study delves into the theoretical analysis of metaphors employed by male and female users on Facebook to cyberbully five Arab female celebrities. Employing Conceptual Metaphor theory, the investigation focuses on two primary facets: women's appearance and behaviors. The study compiles and scrutinizes two corpora—715 metaphors provided by male commenters and 140 metaphors provided by female commenters. The metaphors are collected from comments written on the official Facebook pages of these celebrities in January 2021. The source domains concerning appearance are categorized into: ANIMALS, CARS, REPULSIVE OBJECTS, FOOD, MALES, PRODUCTS, and FRIGHTENING OBJECTS. Conversely, there are two source domains that depict clothes: HOUSEHOLD ITEMS and PLACES. Behaviors-related source domains are grouped into: ANIMALS, LOOSE/PUBLICLY EXPOSED OBJECTS, LOW, and SICK. Upon comparing frequencies, it is observed that the source domains MALES and ANIMALS are more frequently utilized by males in metaphors depicting appearance, whereas the source domain REPULSIVE OBJECTS is more prevalent in females' comments. The study also reveals that, in alignment with the objectification theory, males tend to view females as objects of sex. Males focus on describing the uncovered parts of celebrities’ bodies and they conceptualize the open clothes, that show females’ sexual attraction, as open places.