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Article published In:
Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict
Vol. 12:2 (2024) ► pp.234–262

“The denigration of Korean men’s genitals”

Precision grip gestures and the multimodal construction of “taking offence” in media discourse surrounding anti-feminism in South Korea

ORCID logo | Monash University
This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of metapragmatic commentary in online news surrounding the emergence of a new offensive gesture in South Korea. This new offensive hand shape is a “precision grip” gesture whereby the thumb and index finger are pursed together to represent small size. In May 2021, male-dominated online communities started to take offence at the prevalence of this gesture in advertising campaigns, viewing it as a misandrist emblem mocking them for the size of their genitals. Conservative media sources ratified their stance of “taking offence”, which they treated as part of an ongoing “gender conflict”. Although this view drew opposition from progressive sources, I argue that male communities backed by the conservative media were able to utilise the stance of taking offence to redirect gender politics and further their misogynistic agendas. The results advance our understanding of “taking offence” as a social action in populist, multimodal and post-digital discourses.
Keywords: offence, impoliteness, gesture, multimodality, discourse analysis, Korean
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Taking offence
    • 2.2Precision grip and rude gestures
    • 2.3Anti-feminism in South Korea
  • 3.Current study
    • 3.1The incident
    • 3.2Data
    • 3.3Analysis
  • 4.Data presentation
    • 4.1Overview of articles
    • 4.2Critical discourse analysis
      • 4.2.1Intentionality
      • 4.2.2Misandry
      • 4.2.3Bilateral gender conflict
      • 4.2.4Businesses as victims
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 December 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00088.bro
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