Internet Memes and Gender: A Pragmatic Analysis of How Saudi Male and Female EFL Undergraduate Students Use Internet Memes

The study examined the differences between 150 male and female EFL undergraduate students in their use of internet memes. The way in which male and female participants used internet memes was investigated. Moreover, the differences between the two genders in the pragmatic functions of the memes and the most common function by each gender were investigated. The data for the current study were gathered using a questionnaire completed by 75 male students and 75 female students. The findings suggest that both male and female participants showed a high use of memes in their private conversations with their family and friends. It also showed high use of memes for joking or humour. Male participants showed a high use of memes for entertainment or satire, whereas female participants used them to express their emotions, which was a less frequent function among males. In terms of the most common emotions expressed by males and females, male participants used memes to express happiness and joy more frequently than females, whereas female participants were more likely than males to use internet memes to express sadness, anger, love and hate. Therefore, this shows differences between males and females in the pragmatic functions of using internet memes. The majority of the male and female participants felt comfortable using memes from different cultures, although a few preferred not to because they were afraid of being misunderstood. The paper concludes with a recommendation to conduct studies on the pragmatic functions of memes by different age groups.