Between Support and Reactance: Epistemic and Effective Stance-Taking in Polarised Digital Public Responses to Reclamation Discourse

This mixed-methods case study examines polarisation and discursive stance-taking in digital reader responses to the 2021 concert poster for Spanish singer Zahara. The image, depicting Zahara in Marian iconography wearing a sash bearing a reclaimed slur, sparked nationwide controversy at the intersection of artistic freedom, religious symbolism, and feminist reclamation. Although online polarisation is well documented, the linguistic mechanisms by which symbolic provocations organise ideological divides remain undertheorised. This study addresses this gap by integrating stance theory with psychological reactance and reclamation to analyse how discursive strategies construct opposing ideological positions. It analyses 480 online annotated comments (264 supportive + 216 reactant, extracted from an initial corpus of 658 comments) from four ideologically distinct Spanish newspapers (El Diario, El País, El Mundo, and El Confidencial), combining qualitative thematic analysis with quantitative annotation of epistemic and effective linguistic stance expressions. Findings reveal that linguistic stance is not a static ideological signature but a dynamic, context-sensitive resource used to address distinct rhetorical demands. When expressing support for the poster, some commenters prioritise effective stance to mobilise consensus and solidarity; when articulating dissent, they rely on epistemic elaboration to legitimise their minority position. This rhetorical adaptation is particularly pronounced among left-leaning commenters, who pivot from effective-dominant support to epistemic-heavy reactance – a strategic shift that frames their opposition as reasoned argumentation rather than emotional response. In contrast, right-leaning commenters, whose reactant position aligned with forum consensus, consistently use effective stance to enforce shared moral boundaries and cultural values. The poster thus emerges not merely as artistic expression but as a contested semiotic artefact around which ideologies and identities are performed, challenged, and defended. The study advances digital public discourse analysis, feminist semiotics, and political communication by demonstrating how linguistic stance mediates symbolic provocation, organising polarisation and identity performance in the digital public sphere.