Articulations of Gender Ideology: A Discourse Analysis of Online Public Comments on the Delhi Gang-rape on Firstpost.com

On December 16, 2012, a 23 year-old girl was brutally gang-raped by six men, including one minor, on a moving bus while her male friend was assaulted in Delhi. Both of the victims were attacked with an iron rod and the girl was severely injured and later died. The media was quick to hype cringe-worthy comments made by people in the limelight. The discourse around status of women in the society, patriarchal norms, gender sensitivity and umpteen related constructs became the content of comment threads on various web pages. The articulation of these discourses on a digital medium is both conflicting and intriguing. This paper will attempt to conduct the discourse analysis of the comment threads on few websites that posted updates around this mishap. Since the online medium gives people the advantage of anonymity which may not otherwise be available to them in the public sphere, the constructs of identity and ideology become even more critical. This research paper will attempt to identify the dominant discourses, analyse their ideological context and the potential and the role of digital media in these constructions. Does the digital media ecosystem reinforce the hegemonic ideologies or does it provide the space for liberal and alternative ideologies? Do perceptions of gender and sexuality assume fluid meanings or get re-negotiated in the digital media context? This research will attempt to use the discourse analysis of the web comment threads around the brutal mishap to discuss and analyse these questions.