Enmeshing the mundane and the political: Twitter, LGBTI+ outing and macro-political polarisation in Turkey

Ozge Ozduzen*, Umut Korkut

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)
306 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Examining the relationship between social media, anti-gender and everyday polarisation, this article identifies the ways social media platforms reflect the mundane amidst the interactions of users over social and political issues, showing how micro-stories can foreground macro-political tensions online. We examine a Twitter event over an outing that showed vigorous debates on issues pertaining to gender and its socio-political connotations in Turkey, employing textual and content analyses of reactions shared through hashtags and mentions. The outing involved a child custody battle in court and a secret recording, exposing the sexual identity of a woman popstar #Intizar. The paper shows how Twitter facilitated conservative, homophobic and patriarchal reactions that harnessed deep political polarisation between the AKP government's supporters and those declaring solidarity with LGBTI+ issues. A mundane divorce story exhibited the deep political tension in Turkey, which also exemplifies the depth of increasing online polarisation over gender on a global scale.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1759883
Pages (from-to)493-511
Number of pages19
JournalContemporary Politics
Volume26
Issue number5
Early online date5 May 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Oct 2020

Keywords

  • online polarisation
  • Twitter
  • digital mundane
  • ontological insecurity
  • anti-gender
  • online identity
  • Online polarisation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Political Science and International Relations
  • Sociology and Political Science

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