Discursive frames of prejudice and denial: A critical discourse analysis of anti-gender videos on YouTube

This chapter focuses on a critical discourse analysis of ‘anti-gender’ videos on the social media platform YouTube. I deploy van Dijk’s critical discourse frameworks for analysing discursive expressions of prejudice and discriminatory denial to examine how the anti-gender groups contest gender ideology in global contexts. Once identified, the most prevalent discursive categories of prejudice and denial used by the groups are then examined in terms of how they collectively work to produce particular discursive frames. Key findings indicate that the most frequently-used discursive expressions of prejudice are consensus; disclaimers/denials, metaphors and evidence. And the most frequently-used strategy of denial is reverse charge. Identifying which discursive strategies of prejudice and denial prevail in the data-set can provide clues as to how to read these videos critically with a view to challenging the arguments they convey. Additional frame analysis can begin to evaluate the cumulative discursive effects of the frequent and repeated use of such strategies.