Gendered Propaganda on Russian Pro-War Telegram Channels: Targeting Women

• In Event: Discursive Strategies for Mediating War, Propaganda, and Rebellion during Russia's Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

Over the course of the two-year Ukraine war, a complex ecosystem, euphemistically termed the “Special Military Operation,” has developed in Russia. This system encompasses state structures, institutions, social and cultural groups, as well as media channels, generating, transmitting, and interpreting meanings related to the “patriotic” agenda and the war.
This paper utilizes critical discourse analysis and theoretical studies of “emotional” social media used in right-wing populist politics (Jasper, J. M. 2011; Papacharissi, Z., 2015; Wahl-Jorgensen K., 2016, 2019; Wodak R. 2014, 2021; et al.) to examine how the war correspondents’ and propagandists’ Telegram channels address women to engage them in supporting the war. Researchers of emotional history have noted the prescription of different emotional repertoires for men and women in various historical contexts (Frevert 2011). In contemporary Russian political culture, marked by what Ella Paneyakh terms as “patriarchal resentment” (2020), a concerted effort is being made to redefine “masculine” and “feminine.” The roles of women and men in the “patriotic” media system reflect a conservative, patriarchal model, signifying a regression in Russian society from the early 2010s and the late 1990s.
War propaganda in the media is directed not only towards men, who are urged to go to the front, but also towards women, whom propagandists consider as the primary “support group.” This paper seeks to address questions about the specificity of the discourse of female war correspondents and female propagandists when addressing their audiences. It explores how mothers and wives of servicemen are involved in supporting the war in Ukraine, and how patriarchal gender constructions serve as a foundation for the symbolic mobilization of women in this war.

Author

• Vera Zvereva, U of Jyväskylä (Finland)