A Critical Reading of Arabic Internet Memes against Patriarchal Systems

Abstract

In the wake of numerous protests in the Spring of 2011, memes have taken Arab internet culture by storm. Social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have mainly been studied in the Arab world for their apparent aid in mass uprisings in several countries. This article explores what these Arabic internet memes reveal about the patriarchal system. The data used in this analysis are memes available on the Internet that are in Arabic. To investigate this problem, this article discusses the form and content of several internet memes about patriarchy, the language and rhetoric used, humorous elements, and their overall messages. This article uses qualitative methods and approaches to analyze these memes. The semiotic structuralism method examines the internal elements, such as images and texts, their relationships, as well as linguistics, rhetoric, humor, and semiotics theories. From the analysis results, it was found that, on the one hand, when it comes to their form, memes are very useful in conveying issues about the patriarchal system. On the other hand, internet memes are rather difficult for everyday people to digest because they use many connotative signs and phrases that need to be observed beforehand. This is what distinguishes Arabic internet memes about patriarchal systems from other memes. The issue of patriarchy in Arabia is very diverse and complex, requiring a critical reading to understand it.

Headnote

Abstract

In the wake of numerous protests in the Spring of 2011, memes have taken Arab internet culture by storm. Social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have mainly been studied in the Arab world for their apparent aid in mass uprisings in several countries. This article explores what these Arabic internet memes reveal about the patriarchal system. The data used in this analysis are memes available on the Internet that are in Arabic. To investigate this problem, this article discusses the form and content of several internet memes about patriarchy, the language and rhetoric used, humorous elements, and their overall messages. This article uses qualitative methods and approaches to analyze these memes. The semiotic structuralism method examines the internal elements, such as images and texts, their relationships, as well as linguistics, rhetoric, humor, and semiotics theories. From the analysis results, it was found that, on the one hand, when it comes to their form, memes are very useful in conveying issues about the patriarchal system. On the other hand, internet memes are rather difficult for everyday people to digest because they use many connotative signs and phrases that need to be observed beforehand. This is what distinguishes Arabic internet memes about patriarchal systems from other memes. The issue of patriarchy in Arabia is very diverse and complex, requiring a critical reading to understand it.

Keywords: Internet memes, Patriarchal system, Qualitative method

Introduction

In the wake of numerous protests in the Spring of 2011, memes have taken Arab internet culture by storm. Social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have mainly been studied in the Arab world for their apparent aid in mass uprisings in several countries. Memes are known for their sharable nature and are a popular choice of platform for various themes ranging from domestic issues to social and political commentary. As Limor Shifman describes, an internet meme is "a unit of popular culture that is circulated, imitated, and transformed by Internet users, creating a shared cultural experience" (2016). Among these memes, themes about patriarchal culture have circulated far and wide and continue to be popular. This article investigates how patriarchy memes have influenced women's revolts against the patriarchal system in Arab countries.

While past studies have researched the relationship between Arab women and patriarchal systems, this research utilizes memes as a credible source for further understanding this dynamic. This study will employ macro memes' data, i.e., a meme that contains an image and a text, as a corpus. The memes studied in this article will be images featuring figures of women and Arabic texts. With such images and texts, the social media content in question is assumed to be material relating to women and the Arab culture. Therefore, this article will attempt to analyze these social media forms and contents to determine whether they are associated with the patriarchal system.

Social media is a corpus of this study, underpinned by the argument of Heather Brown et. al., that social media played a prolific role in Arab culture (2012). In Egypt, social networks have been used to organize and connect groups of activists. Civil society leaders use them as a tool to protest against authorities. Meanwhile, other Arabs see these social media platforms as a way to exercise freedom of speech.

Social media has drastically changed the way women organize in the Arab world. Women's rights activists and advocates can now make calls of support that can be reposted, and they can communicate over long distances with each other over social media. With social media, these activists can share information regarding women's issues across Arab cultures to develop cooperative approaches and partnerships, explore women's social and economic empowerment, organize regional and international conferences, workshops, forums, and other events to address these issues. An activist can now provide online training for women on databases and resources management and disseminate information to women worldwide through electronic mailing lists (Odine 2013).

Despite the rise of women's social media usage in protests and online activism, men in the Arab culture remained twice as likely to use social media than women, who still only made up around 33% of users (Tomlin 2012). This statistic could be attributed to cultural norms and restrictions imposed on women that limit their participation in political and social changes. However, there was a strong belief that social media could enhance their economic and political life, which permitted women to acquire self-expression to promote social growth (Odine 2013). Based on the primary data, a closer study into social media in the Arab world seems necessary, especially concerning women, considering their marginal participation in the vastly growing Internet world.

In Nasrina Siddiqi et al.'s, article "Analyzing Threads of Sexism in New Age Humor: A Content Analysis of Internet Memes," they suggest that sexism has become more widespread and profound with the inception of the cyber revolution (2018). According to the authors, the phenomenon posed questions on an egalitarian society's attainability, curtailed gender parity, and fostered a gender divide despite ongoing efforts to mitigate gender biases; sexism remains embedded in the culture. When expressed under the garb of humor, sexism may seem less offensive, but it has deteriorating repercussions in the long run. With the rise of social media, sexist humor has found a new medium to spread rapidly among the masses. Based on those premises, they explored social media's role in spreading sexism through sexist humor by analyzing fifty randomly selected sexist memes using a combination of quantitative and qualitative content analyses and examined their meaning using a social constructionist approach. The studies revealed that sexist humor propagates baseless generalizations and gender stereotypes. Internet memes often amalgamate demeaning language with humor to communicate sexist antagonism. The images used in most sexist memes display young, confident, and modern women, which could be interpreted as a manifestation of women's perceived threat. Overall, the findings indicated that sexist humor could cultivate tolerance of sexist attitudes by making it seem less offensive. Their study results have important implications for researchers and the masses alike, as they could provide insights into the complexity and duality of humor in everyday life.

A.O. Kucherenko study "Lexical Features of Arabic Internet Sayings for Women" researched the linguistic aspects of Arabic Internet sayings commonly used by women (2018). The study dealt with modern aphorisms, witticisms, motivational phrases, and so forth used in everyday communication. Kucherenko's research covered standard and colloquial Arabic languages that could be mixed to facilitate the understanding between Arabs from different countries, including code-switching and code-mixing, the impact of the Internet on Arabic, and an analysis of the creative aspect that affected women's discourse online.

In 2005, Philippe Fargues studied women and the patriarchal system in his research titled "Women in Arab Countries: Challenging the Patriarchal System?" and argued that demographic change would undermine the patriarchal system that has governed the family system since ancient times. Nader Said-Foqahaa researched a similar topic in his article "Arab Women: Duality of Deprivation in Decision-making under Patriarchal Authority," where he argued that despite some progress, authority is still patriarchal in Arab countries (2011).

Methodologies and Approaches

One of the main goals of this research is to analyze the most viral patriarchy memes and validate whether this social media content can viably raise issues regarding the patriarchal system in Arab society. What distinguishes this research from others is that the data analyzed in this study are images and texts from internet memes and their effectiveness as facilitators of conversations that discuss the patriarchal system is reviewed. This topic is worth discussing because the patriarchal system exists in Arab societies and is a pressing global issue.

To analyze the memes, this article first adopts a structuralist approach to break them down into parts and examine how these parts interrelate within the memes. Structuralism is a conceptual and methodological approach to describe and analyze various inquiry objects, including cultures, economics, languages, literature, mythologies, politics, and societies (Kridel 2010). A structuralist analysis assumes that inquiry objects could be characterized by underlying structures conceived as interrelated parts and the relationships among these constitutive elements.

This article also uses a semiotic approach to analyze the messages within the memes. A meme is a sign without triadic nature (Kull 2000). Memes and symbols denote almost the same thing. Similarly, Terrence Deacon argued that a meme is a sign which, under some distinctive feature, could only be understood by an interpretive process within a more extensive system (1999). Bradley Wiggins highlights that Jan Blommaert and Sara Cannizzaro asserted that Internet memes should be understood as identical to the semiotic sign (2019). Internet memes contain within them a semiotic meaning, tethered to an ideological practice. Although not all memes are heavily rich in ideology, they can convey an ideological message. Internet memes' preponderance is online and covers a range of topics, from the mundane and the quotidian to the sublime, controversial, and provocative.

In their book Moving from Spoken to Written Language with ELLs (2014), Ivannia Soto proposes that memes are pictures with specific key texts that say something funny about some particular people. A meme is a picture that is culturally known by a community and accompanied by a concept or a message spread on the Internet to promote specific ideas. Therefore, ads that are not on the Internet or are not widely distributed and stock photos without accompanying texts and images that do not tell any particular story are not memes. Abu Lota stated that memes are a concept, usually in the form of images, distributed on the Internet (2012). Memes, in this case, can be used to convey a message humorously.

As previously stated, this article will discuss several memes that contain images of women, either in photos or in drawings, and Arabic texts, with an assumption that they carry a patriarchal element in them. The memes in this study were randomly selected, and there is no indication of where each of them came from specifically (which Arab country) and when it was distributed. While discussing the memes, I will use the theory of memes proposed by Patrick Davison, which divides a meme into three components: the manifestation (an observable, external phenomenon), the behavior (an action taken by an individual), and the ideal (a concept or an idea). I will also utilize a theory proposed by Tom, which identifies four memes; a macro meme (a familiar image with a caption), a photo meme, a video meme, and a word meme.

In terms of emoticons and punctuations, this article bases its discussion on Davison's theory that argued that emoticons are also a meme that serves several functions in transmitting information (Mandiberg 2015). Besides framing meme content as positive or negative, emoticons also function to entertain. The purpose of punctuation is to control pauses in a text and combine the text's ideas to create a bond between the writer and the reader (Awad 2015).

In this macro meme, the creator does not use an image of an Arab woman but a popular character in the meme world named Derpina. While there are several iterations of the character with varying facial expressions, Derpina is most often depicted as a female character with a walleyed derp face and angry expression-her male counterpart is called Derp.

The meme reads:

"If you are mad at a woman and the woman keeps silent, that does not mean she is weak, but she is having a discussion with the devil, making a plan to destroy your future, and the devil is trying to calm the situation down. "

As the text is written in Arabic, the intended audience can be Arab readers and Arab men. The use of the pronoun indicates it -ta (you, male) in the clause ghadabta (you (male) are mad), and not -ti (you, female). Thus, it can be concluded that the message in the meme is from a woman to a man.

Looking at the form, the image and the text are in a balanced proportion; not one is more prominent than the other, and the image is placed between two lines of the text. It shows that none is to be emphasized more than the other, deserving the netizens' attention as they share the same level of importance.

Meanwhile, message-wise, the meme features an image of a female character. The word woman, 'imra'atun, is also mentioned in the text. Likewise, Derpina, whom netizens regard as a symbol of an angry woman, is the main feature. The text also contains the word mad, such as in the clause ghadabta (you (male) are mad).

Besides the explicit mention of "woman" in the meme, it also uses a word that is an isotopy of the word woman, dha'f (weak). The term alludes to a characteristic of women. In addition to ghadab (mad), the clause tatanaqasyu ma'a iblis (discussing with the devil) also denotes anger. Usually, when someone experiences mistreatment, they try to seek advice from their parents, siblings, or friends to cope. However, here, because the woman is burning with rage, she chooses to discuss with the devil, which is culturally the worst of all evils. Another clause that points to a wave of great anger is 'ala khittati tunhi mustaqbalaka (making a plan to destroy your future). Filled with wrath, the woman plans to ruin the future of the man who has upset her.

The meme utilizes wordplay that contrasts one situation with another, e.g., the woman keeps silent versus that does not mean she is weak. The creator warns the reader to avoid mistreating a woman. They believe that while she may be destined to be socially and physically weak, she could end a man's life if angered enough. In Arabic rhetoric, contrasting two or more words in a statement is also known as muqabalah (Lesmana 144).

The meme also employs confusion through the symbol o.O following the phrase Fazaka laysa dalil' ala da'fiha (that does not mean she is weak). The symbol should be read as O.o because Arabic is written from right to left. In meme parlance, it is used to depict confusion, such as scratching one's head. The creator intentionally places the symbol amid the text to influence the reader's interpretation because the saying must be confusing to someone who truly believes a woman is supposed to be weak. After making the readers pause, the statement ends with the symbol "D:" a big smile. The emoticon invites the readers to smile, reassuring that the woman's silence is not because of her weakness but that she plans for something worse.

The imperfect drawing adds humor to the meme and the use of an iconic character sets the foundation for such a theme. The punchline is that the devil is trying to calm the situation down; the devil is depicted as more rational than the woman. Another interpretation of this joke is that the woman's rage is so great that the devil feels the need to calm her down-her anger sends the devil into a panic.

From this analysis of the meme's image and content, the meme portrays the magnitude of a woman's anger from a man's perspective, which views the rage as more threatening than the devil himself. It shows that a woman can rebel when she feels threatened by a man. The meme represents a woman's revolt against the patriarchal system that continues even today. Women feel repressed by the system, under which authority in a family is controlled and dominated by men. As defined by Peter Krauss, Arab patriarchy is a hierarchy of power controlled and dominated by men starting with the family structure (Joseph 14).

Divided patriarchal discourses in the Arab world can be divided into three types: first is the modernist-nationalist discourse, which advocates a limited and ambiguous amount of change in women's rights and roles while preserving male leadership in the family, workplace, and political system (Kassab 110). Second is the national liberation discourse, which couples the struggle for liberation with the imperative of cultural preservation. It puts contradictory demands on women to take on new public roles and maintain the traditional value system. The third is the dependency discourse, which addresses gender inequality but relates it and subordinates it to the nation's more considerable socioeconomic dependency. Using this framework, it can be understood that this meme falls under national liberation discourse.

The next meme is an image of a woman in tears, to which the meme creator adds an Arabic text that reads: "Don't let anyone know the secret behind your tears, so they won't know how to cry for you."

The meme is being used as a platform to spread the creator's message to women in general. Regarding form, the image is placed with more prominence than the text which places emphasis on the image's emotion.

Memes could be taken from television shows or movies, animal pictures, or individuals- famous or not (Fearn-Banks 95). Many websites now allow users to add their text to the most popular meme images and then share their images on social media. If only looking at the image, most readers will interpret the feelings of sorrow coming from the woman. However, the text works in tandem with the photo to emphasize the sadness of the message.

Despite being relatively short, the meme is full of rhetoric. The image shows a woman shedding tears, while the text contains a noun dam' at (tears) in the phrase dam' atuki (your tears) and a verb yabku (to cry) in the phrase yabkuka (to cry for you). In the meme, the creator uses nahi (prohibition), a type of rhetoric whose aim is al-'irsyad (to give an instruction) (Lesmana 137).

Moreover, the presence of a connotative word or figure of speech, such as the phrase sir ad-dam' atiki (the secret behind your tears), further precludes a more straightforward understanding. In Arabic, this type of figure of speech is known as majaz al-mursal, which links a connotative word (majazi) to its denotative word (haqiqi) based on their relationship (alaqat) (Lesmana 135). The text includes a musababbiyah (cause and effect) relationship, in which the tears are caused by crying. Thus, the phrase the secret behind your tears means the secret behind your crying.

Another type of rhetoric employed in the meme is tibaq, a statement containing two words having opposite or contradictory meanings (Lesmana 135). The word ahad (person) imports the singular versus the word an-nas (persons) that imports the plural. Using this type of language embellishes the sentence so that the reader focuses on the image and the text. The synergy between the image and the text confirms to the reader that the meme's theme is talking about a woman's sorrow. Although the cause of her tears is unknown, her sadness can still trigger empathy from people.

From the image, the woman can be understood as a modest woman. It is unknown if the woman is Arab or not. She looks like someone who just woke up from her sleep. Her outfit is also ordinary. From the woman's appearance, one might theorize about what class she belongs to and what kind of sorrow is befalling her based on her clothing and makeup. Moreover, with no context as to why she is crying, it can be concluded that disappointment brought by an unwanted action causes her grief.

From the analysis above, the woman's grief can be interpreted as caused by the patriarchal system forced onto her. The patriarchal system has been known as a force that limits women's access to jobs and determines women's economic welfare (Doumato 84). Patriarchy is understood as a system where men dominate women, believing that women should only have reproductive responsibilities and limited access in social spheres. The system marginalizes women by defining their role as economically dependent and unproductive members of society.

The following Arabic meme above is obtained by inputting the words "Arabic" and "Egypt" in the online search engine. The meme depicts a woman wearing shades and carrying a big knife. An Arabic text accompanies the figure: Innama lil-shabri huduudW, which means "Patience has its limits." Different from the previous memes, the figure does not constitute the dominant aspect of the meme. The ratio between the figure and the text is quite balanced, showing an equal proportion between the message conveyed by the figure and the one represented by the text, without emphasizing one over the other.

The woman is a middle-aged person wearing a silk dress with a ribboned waist belt, laced sleeves, a neat hairstyle, and long earrings that nearly touch the shoulders. Considering these aspects, it is evident that this meme tells of events experienced by a modern woman. Secondly, the woman in the meme wears a pair of sunglasses. Talking about semiotics, the use of sunglasses cannot be interpreted as a measure to protect the eyes from bright sunlight as commonly done by people, because there is no sun in the picture. Perhaps, the purpose of using the sunglasses is to tell internet users that whatever she is about to do will be done unseen, so that she should not be held accountable.

The large knife on the woman's left hand is also important to note. Usually, women use knives when they are in the kitchen to cut vegetables, fruits, or meat, and they are held in their right hands. However, such a situation is not depicted in the meme. The knife is positioned forward as if it were going to be thrust into an object ahead by the woman's left hand, which indicates that the woman is irritated at something.

Textually, the first term that needs to be interpreted is the particle innamaa (only). In the Arabic language, particle innamaa is used to put an emphasis (Lesmana 141). In this case, the meme puts stress on the word huduud (limit). Thus, the meaning of li as-sabr (patience) truly has its limit. Another emphasis marker is the use of exclamation marks at the end of the expression. The double exclamation marks can be interpreted semiotically as an expression that demands to be noticed.

As argued by Chakhachiro, double exclamation marks in a sentence constitute an emphatic expression reflecting the disbelief in the media (181). In the Arabic language, multiple exclamation marks are often used excessively in this type of text. Unlike an utterance context, the exclamation marks are used to convey irony and carry the interpersonal function in the form of address to the readership.

In general, the meme's statement is informative and asks for pity, which in Arabic is called kalam al-khabar 'istirham (Lesmana 137). The meme maker asks internet users to pity women for being constantly treated harshly. There seems to be a complementary relationship between the image and the text that says, "patience has a limit." It can be interpreted that the woman may have experienced persistent oppression and could no longer contain her patience, so she decides to rebel against the oppressors.

This meme can be construed in two ways. On the one hand, this meme shows how a woman can be "terrible," "threatening," or "vicious." Such a meme is not intended for a female audience, but rather it serves as a joke among men. On the other hand, the image of an expressionless woman carrying a sharp weapon and wearing sunglasses humorously resembles someone ready to slaughter others. This meme can also be included in a highlighted incongruity category since this meme is used to mock female oppressors.

As Zappavigna argues, memes that are circulating on the Internet are not all intended to share information but rather to create social ties (2012). Memes often convey humorous content that require both smart and funny observations that are easy to recognize and effective. These viral memes usually come from jokes and reflect the experiences common to a community spread on social media platforms.

The humor of this meme is conveyed through the image of a knife-wielding woman. Women are commonly depicted as elegant and soft, yet this meme shows a rougher side by portraying her holding a brandished knife. In Arabic humor theory, this kind of humor is called attanaqud, created from the unusual depiction of a person contrasting to the stereotypical image existing in the society (Lesmana 2014, 39).

The image and the text analysis show that this meme depicts a woman who has run out of patience. This is a warning to men that there is also a limit on women's patience. If they are treated harshly, they may be ready to slaughter. Compared to the previous memes, this meme is perhaps most explicitly against the patriarchal system. It can be interpreted that the woman in the meme can no longer accept the system and is doing everything in her power to abolish it. Her patience has finally run out.

Perhaps this is what Ume Habiba, et al. calls neo-patriarchy (2016). Neo-patriarchy is a new form of governance over women in the family, which functions through different types of violence to suppress a woman's identity and create dependency in the family. These new actors internalize patriarchal values and further oppress women and uphold patriarchal power in the family.

The last meme analyzed in this study utilizes a cartoon design. Like the previous memes, although the image does not explicitly represent Arab women, the text is written in the Arabic language, which implies that this meme's target audience is those who can read Arabic. The translation of the text reads, "I am here not to wait for anyone, and I do not regret the past. Every day I look for something that can make me happy. I like people who are close to me, and I dislike people who are far from me."

The subject pronoun in the text is "I," which represents the woman's voice depicted in the meme. It is not very clear whom the cartoon is supposed to represent. The woman has loose long hair, thick eyebrows, and a facial accessory covers her face. She wears a jewel ring on her finger and a bracelet on one arm. Her eyes are looking straight into the reader's eyes. In her hands, she holds a cup close to her mouth. The act of drinking coffee or tea is a common trope used to illustrate someone enjoying a break.

When placed in conversation, we can see the congruity between the text and the image. The image of a drinking person is congruent to the words, "I am here not to wait for anyone, and I do not regret the past." She can casually drink because she is not burdened by anything. Likewise, the image of colorful, loose, long hair and accessories corresponds to the words "every day I look for something that can make me happy," in which happiness may not be achieved with modesty but with adequate capital.

The woman in the picture appears to be drinking while sitting down, which can be interpreted as resigned. She seems to be waiting for something, and that is the reason she shares, "I like people who are close to me, and I dislike people who are far from me ". It is because only people who are close to her can give her happiness, while people who are far away might not be able to do so. Conversely, despite not being assertive, this woman can be seen as a tough woman who is not easily discouraged. The past shall stay in the past, as reflected in the sentence "I do not regret the past" The most important thing for her is the present and her future with a man close by expressed in the words, don't be far from me. Such a contradiction is also seen in the emoticon used at the end of the text.

In terms of humor, this meme's humorous effect is not produced by the content but by the image used. As argued by Shifman, there are three types of humor on the Internet (Raivio 2016). The first is highlighted incongruity, which is the type of humor typically used to mock the ruling institution and imitate the rulers' symbols such as political leaders and religious practices. The second type is the mixture of fiction and reality, which is humor based on mismatches between real people and fictional elements, such as sounds, images, animation, etc. Shifman argues that idiosyncrasies' effectiveness lies in the perception of the diminishing boundary between the real and the fictitious. Lastly, there is comic commodification of celebrities, namely the commodification of stars. Here, the images and the voices of a handful of people with a celebrity status are manipulated to achieve a humorous effect. According to Shifman, this practice might be seen as a way for ordinary people to gain "symbolic power" over celebrities by making them the target of a ridiculing joke.

Like the previous, this meme appears to be aimed towards a male audience-it shows the nature of women who want to be loved even though they might say otherwise. This meme portrays a sentimental or upset woman who denies her true feelings. The cool-face emoticon that shows a calm yet taunting face confirms this message.

This patriarchy form can be categorized as norm and attitude, as suggested by Lindsay J. Benstead, which divides patriarchy into two forms: structures, and norms and attitudes (Shalaby 122). Structures are formal laws and policies, such as personal status, marriage, divorce, inheritance, and employment laws, such as wage discrimination and sex segregation. On the other hand, norms and attitudes are traditional views of gender roles that define public space as male and private spaces as female (Sadiqi 2008).

Conclusion

From the analysis results, it was found that, on the one hand, when viewed from the form, the use of internet memes is very useful in conveying issues about the patriarchal system. This can be seen from the means used in it, such as humor. Although not all of the memes studied were funny, they were unique in form and caught the readers' attention. This follows Davison's assertion that an internet meme is a piece of culture, typically a joke, that gains influence through online transmission (121). While not all Internet memes are jokes, comparing them to offline jokes makes it clear that what makes internet memes unique is their transmission speed and the fidelity of their form.

Apart from humor, the memes also use emoticons that serve several functions in transmitting information (Davidson 124). Emoticons can be used to frame content as positive or negative, serious or lighthearted, or any number of other things. The emoticon has gained influence not by being surprisingly centralized but by being surprisingly distributed.

As noted by Kostadinovska-Stojchevska, internet memes tend to prefer simple, relatively fast communication, content, and information that require only a few seconds of attention to be understood (161). In addition to being simple yet complex and exciting enough for the audience, memes are also customizable to individual needs, which is why they are so popular.

On the one hand, internet memes are rather difficult for ordinary people to digest because they use many connotative signs and phrases that need to be observed beforehand. This is what distinguishes Arabic internet memes about patriarchal systems from other memes. The issue of patriarchy in Arabia is very diverse and complex, requiring a critical reading to understand it as done by Lawrence and Ringrose in their research on social media and discourse on feminism. Internet memes can be used as a new way of conveying issues about the patriarchal system. They explore how feminist humor and irony are rhetorical and debating strategies to challenge problematic arguments against or about feminists by re-staging antifeminist claims as absurd, ridiculous, and illogical. They argue that humorous posts play a central role in increasing feminist audiences and mobilizing feminist connectivity, collectivity, and solidarity.

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