‘Sanna, Aren't You Ashamed?’ Affective-discursive practices in online misogynist discourse of Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin

Abstract

This research examines online misogynist discourse related to the Finnish prime minister (PM) Sanna Marin's image published in Trendi magazine in October 2020. The affective-discursive analysis of online commentaries resulted in the identification of four affective-discursive practices: an immoral woman, incompetent woman, calculating woman and inferior woman. Misogynist discourse related to the PM Marin took the form of a moral act, drew from stereotypical images of women as less rational than men, appeared as accusations targeted at Marin for playing the gender card as a political tactic, and constructed an image of Marin and female politicians as objects of men's sexual desires and as inferior to men. These affective-discursive practices mobilized dehumanizing discourse ranging from milder forms of derogation, scorn and other-condemning practices to harsher forms of belittlement, humiliation and animalistic dehumanization. This study contributes to the current knowledge on the affective-discursive processes underlying online misogyny against female politicians.