Gender Representation in Two American News Outlets Before and After #MeToo: A Corpus-Based Study

Abstract

This study investigates the linguistic representation of gender in two ideologically distinct American news outlets, HuffPost and the Washington Examiner, before and after the #MeToo movement gained prominence in late 2017. It focuses on the adjectival evaluation of (pro)nominal expressions (typically in terms of positive or negative meaning) used for the portrayal of men and women, and on the semantic roles and syntactic functions of these expressions. Key findings indicate a general decrease in the frequency of such evaluation, suggesting a shift towards more cautious or restrained use of language following #MeToo. While some traditional gender stereotypes persist, there is noticeable change in gender depiction, with HuffPost increasing the representation of women as experiencers; HuffPost also maintains a higher representation of expressions with female reference in agentive roles compared with the Washington Examiner, despite a decrease in frequency after the movement. Conversely, the Washington Examiner shows more conservative tendencies but also notable shifts, such as a more frequent portrayal of men as undergoers or affected by external actions, indicating an emerging focus on male vulnerability. The results highlight the complex interplay between the #MeToo movement, media representation, and language use, suggesting that while the movement has prompted scrutiny of gender portrayals, the changes also reflect broader societal dynamics and the ideological leanings of the media outlets.