The Discursive Construction and Performance of Gendered Identity on Social Media

This article looks at the construction and performance of gendered identity through a sub-section of Facebook web pages belonging to the Slut Walk movement. The authorsâ analysis suggests that gender is constructed through the subjectsâ participation in the âpost-feminist masqueradeâ through which their gendered identity is defined in relation to a hegemonic masculine ideal. This situates the web pages within a space characterized through the ambivalent and appropriative treatment of feminism and further, coiled within an acute tension between feminist and post-feminist discourses. Acts of resistance are framed as individual, momentary ruptures of Judith Butlerâs heterosexual matrix of âcultural intelligibilityâ. The online context of these ruptures is found to vest a creative potential, by removing the constraints of time and location, indicating that the impact of these ruptures may extend beyond its immediate environment