Sexism on Facebook Status

ABSTRAK Cahyani, Laily I. N. 2017. Sexism on Facebook Status. Thesis, Department of English, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang. Advisors: Dr. Mirjam Anugerahwati, M.A., Inayatul Fariha, S. S., M.A. Keywords: Sexism, Gender Bias, Facebook Status, Media Discourse.Social media are the arena of promoting meaning through some symbols and signifiers. Cunningham et. Al (2004) even states that social media are critical to shape public perception toward something. Additionally, Dian in Budiawan (2015) sums up that media display meaning negotiation which debates culture composition. One of the issues in the media is the portrayal of a specific gender that based on the sex they owned. Gender is the parameter of valuing someone’s identity; in this study women are misrepresented through the uses of sexist language in social media.This study focuses on the sexist language found on facebook status to represent women. The researcher finds out that the uses of sexist language on facebook status shows the idea of women sub-ordinated positon in the society. It is found out that the uses of sexist language is beneficial to promote male higher position since the men are the objects who value.By using researcher’s private Facebook account, the data collection are conducted in three phases. The first phase is observing the data of the representation of women in social media by using sexist language. The second, the researcher tries to choose the data pervasively based on the theory of female sexist representation in the media; and the third, the researcher analyzes the data by using interdisciplinary approach. The data are in the form of Facebook status updates including memes, writing contents, and the combination of picture and written status.This study analyzes the function of using sexist language to represent women. The researcher found out that the representation of women on facebook status may be categorized into three main aspects which are : (1) sexist representation that see women based on the idealized femininity, (2) sexist representation that see women based on the stereotypical view, and (3) sexist Representation that see women as the objects of sexual desire. In a nutshell, this study succeded in revealing some functions of representing women by using sexist language. Women can be positioned as the subjects of inquiry also as the objects of sexual desire; as well as they view stereotypically based on society’s belief and assumption. Women are demanded to behave accordingly more than men. It means to submit socio-cultural practices in the society and to perpetuate male hegemonic norms