Female Politicians as Climate Fools: Intertextual and Multimodal Constructions of Misogyny Disguised as Humor in Political Communication

Abstract

The present study explores how the polarized political discussion on climate change is used to construct as a humorous misogynist message in a Finnish far-right political campaign video from 2021. Applying a multimodal analytical approach, the study explores the ways in which humor and irony are mobilized in the video through intertextual cues and verbal, visual, and sonic means to produce a dichotomy between "us"-the rational males who oppose strong measures against climate change-and "them," the irrational females, who propose them. The study contributes to political psychology, first by responding to the call for social and political psychologists to expand our knowledge of the production and spread of misogyny in online political communication; second, by showing the importance of studying intertextual and multimodal constructions of misogyny disguised as humor in political communication, and, finally, through demonstrating the utility of interdisciplinarity and multimodal analytic approaches in research on online political mobilization and persuasion.

Natural, enjoyable, and Finnish: Social representations of eating meat in Finnish meat product advertisements

“…Although we have explored the social representations of meat-eating in a Finnish context, meat-eating in industri alised food systems is not a localised phenomenon. In fact, localisation and nationalisation of practices related to environmental behaviour may be harmful by disrupting the efforts at global solidarity (e.g., Pettersson et al, 2022). Between 2010 and 2050, the global demand for meat is projected to grow by 73 percent (FAO, 2011); therefore, the emerging debates are likely to be further explicated over the coming decades.…”

Mobilization of shared victimhood in the radical right populist Finns Party supporters’ identity work: A narrative–discursive approach to populist support

“…In Excerpt 7, the interviewee argues that Finland's climate actions are excessive and pose a threat to populating the country (line 3; see Pettersson et al., 2022). The interviewee constructs the interpretative repertoire of the interference of green liberal values while playing with the idea of travelling to their summer cottage – which is located in a different municipality – by a train or electric car, which they describe as costly, tricky or impossible.…”

Misogyny, authoritarianism, and climate change

“…For example, Koch (1998) found that citizens' preferences on government supplied health insurance changed in the early 1990s in line with elite attempts to shape public opinion to their advantage, and that these changes were most dramatic amongst those whose political awareness was low or medium. The role of rhetoric and political communication has been attended to in psychology (see Pettersson et al., 2022), and there are long‐standing arguments for political science o take into account the significance of political rhetoric as a way of understanding political and policy change, and the role of ideas in this (see Finlayson, 2004).…”

“…The far‐right digital ecosystem was constructing hostility toward a female environmental campaigner using historical tropes of “irrational femininity.” Likewise, Pettersson et al. (2022) refer to the ways in which Finnish far‐right political campaigns used humorous misogynist messaging in a campaign film that drew upon polarized political communication on climate change – pitting the “rational males” who opposed stronger measures to tackle climate change against “irrational females” who propose such measures. It is important to note the reach of such media; 6%–12% of the online population in Sweden was reached by just four websites in 2020 (in Vowles & Hultman, p. 415).…”