Corporate media, guardians of the patriarchal system. A braided analysis of women’s resistance against anti-feminist propaganda.

Ultimately, traditional and digital media serve as battlegrounds between feminist advocacy and the proliferation of misogynistic discourses. Despite significant feminist advancements, female representation remains moulded by stereotypes, objectification and sexualisation. This research explores academic literature, institutional and civil society reports and media contents to analyse the drivers influencing gender representations in the media and to examine how sexist gender representation can be overcome. Female representation is still shaped by the male gaze and has increasingly come under attack by extremist ideologies on social media. Results show how patriarchal, capitalist and conservative influences drive these representations. This research argues that news and digital contents are strategically selected and amplified to further the interests of capitalism and patriarchy. These interrelated systems - based on the exploitation of women and minorities - manipulate the media landscape to maintain social reproduction and a hierarchical societal organisation. Consequently, women, and especially marginalised women, remain objectified and depicted as submissive to normalise hierarchical gender structure and its consequences, such as gender-based violence and masculine hegemony. While this dominant narrative has been impacted by feminist progress, it has been reclaimed by extremist masculinist ideology on social media, which promote a patriarchal and capitalist social order. Indeed, masculinism has been a central movement in the media landscape. Amplified by algorithms, this ideology exploits women and young men by commodifying virility and reducing women to consumer products. Facilitated by media platforms, these radical ideologies further alt-right political projects and progressively enter mainstream political debate. Based on these observations, this research explores new forms of feminist resistance capable of transforming the dominant narrative, highlighting inspiring examples of feminisms that intersect with anti-capitalism, anticolonialism and intersectional struggles.

Ultimately, traditional and digital media serves as battlegrounds between feminist advocacy and the proliferation of misogynistic discourses. Despite significant feminist advancements, female representation remains moulded by stereotypes, objectification and sexualisation. This research explores academic literature, institutional and civil society reports and media contents to analyse the drivers influencing gender representations in the media and to examine how sexist gender representation can be overcome. Female representation is still shaped by the male gaze and has increasingly come under attack by extremist ideologies on social media. Results show how patriarchal, capitalist and conservative influences drive these representations. This research argues that news and digital contents are strategically selected and amplified to further the interests of capitalism and patriarchy. These interrelated systems - based on the exploitation of women and minorities - manipulate the media landscape to maintain social reproduction and a hierarchical societal organisation. Consequently, women, and especially marginalised women, remain objectified and depicted as submissive to normalise hierarchical gender structure and its consequences, such as gender-based violence and masculine hegemony. While this dominant narrative has been impacted by feminist progress, it has been reclaimed by extremist masculinist ideology on social media, which promote a patriarchal and capitalist social order. Indeed, masculinism has been a central movement in the media landscape. Amplified by algorithms, this ideology exploits women and young men by commodifying virility and reducing women to consumer products. Facilitated by media platforms, these radical ideologies further alt-right political projects and progressively enter mainstream political debate. Based on these observations, this research explores new forms of feminist resistance capable of transforming the dominant narrative, highlighting inspiring examples of feminisms that intersect with anti-capitalism, anticolonialism and intersectional struggles.