Contesting hegemonic gender and sexuality discourses on the web: A semiotic analysis of Latvian and Polish LGBTQ and feminist blogs

This chapter offers a semiotic analysis of Latvian and Polish LGBTQ and feminist blogs, focusing on the functions of layout, image-text relations and denotative/connotative meanings of images as integral elements of online discourses of gender dissidents. The term gender dissident discourse refers to texts by authors who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) and/or feminist (in these texts). Dissident discourse is all about relating to validity claims (in Habermas’s 1998 sense) that have been previously raised (either by mainstream/hegemonic discourses or hearsay). Specifically, the discourse of gender dissidents responds to the validity claim of heteronormativity and/or patriarchy. Some texts accept heteronormative or patriarchal claims to rightness, but also construct sexual/gender dissidents to be as good as the ‘normals’ (Goffman, 1963) in realising these claims. For example, gays, lesbians and feminists can also be faithful monogamous partners, generous caretakers, amazing parents and so forth. Other texts deny the heteronormative/patriarchal claims, e.g. by glorifying dissident lifestyles or rejecting the very gender (masculine/feminine) and sexual (hetero/homo) distinctions as artificial, unnecessary and restrictive social constructs (Chojnicka, 2015). This chapter explores the role played by visual elements – either independently or together with texts – in constructing these dissident positions.