The Discursive Place of feminisms on Facebook: A Heterogeneous Game of Positions

Résumé

This work aims to analyze, in light of the theoretical and methodological framework of Pecheutian Discourse Analysis (Pêcheux’s DA), how the discursive place of feminisms[1] is arranged in the digital world, and which subject-positions are taken up in this place based on the discourse produced by feminist pages on Facebook. We sought to understand the reading gestures in the positions taken up by the pages in their self-descriptions in comparison to what they discursivize in their posts. We analyzed five pages that declare themselves as feminists: TODAS Fridas, Não Me Kahlo, Feminismo sem demagogia-original, Empodere Duas Mulheres e Ventre Feminista. In our analysis, we found three subject-positions in the discursive place of feminisms in the digital space: an intersectional feminist position, a Marxist feminist position, and a liberal feminist position. These positions are taken up in the pages’ self-descriptions. However, our analysis demonstrates that their effects might or might not be reproduced in the posts.