The Transgender Bathroom Problem: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Public Opinions from News Sites

Andi Priyowicaksono

Abstract

This research seeks to investigate public reaction towards the ordinance that allowed transgender people to use bathroom in correspondence to their identified gender. The article explores the reaction through observing comments expressed by public in comment sections of news articles from Abcnews (abcnews.com), Usatoday (usatoday.com), and Washington Post (washingtonpost.com). Comments expressed by public in the comment section contain their own belief and ideology which often clashes with one another. The conflict resulted in the verbal interchange of ideas (discourse) that are expressed through agreements and arguments. Drawing on qualitative method, this paper critically analyzes these discourses appearing in the comment section. The commenters’ belief in the context of transgender bathroom ordinance is correlated with the work of Michel Foucault that put focus on the systematical relation between power and its subject(s). This paper argues that heteronormativity is the power driving the subjects in reacting to the case of transgender bathroom ordinance.

Keywords

CDA

Full Text:

PDF

References

Balingit, M. (2016). Federal appeals court sides with transgender teen, says bathroom case can go forward. Sup. Ct. Preview, 282.

Boyle, M. (2016, December 19). North Carolina's transgender bathroom law may be repealed. Usatoday. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/19/north-carolina-bathroom- bill/95615132/

Butler, J. (1988). Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory. Theatre Journal, 40(4), 519-531.

Daldal, A. (2014). Power and ideology in Michel Foucault and Antonio

Gramsci: A comparative analysis. Review of History and Political Science, 2(2), 149-167.

Fairclough, N. & Wodak, R. (1995). Critical discourse analysis. International Advances in Engineering and Technology (IAET), 7, 452-487.

Flores, A. R. (2015). Attitudes toward transgender rights: perceived knowledge and secondary interpersonal contact. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 3(3), 398-416.

Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical inquiry, 8(4), 777-795.

Jäger, S. (2001). Discourse and knowledge: Theoretical and methodological aspects of a critical discourse and dispositive analysis. Methods of critical discourse analysis, 1, 32-63.

Kogan, T. S. (2007). Sex-separation in public restrooms: Law, architecture, and gender. Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, 14(1), 1-55.

Krueger, E. A., & Young, S. D. (2015). Twitter: a novel tool for studying the health and social needs of transgender communities. JMIR mental health, 2(2).

Prentice, D. A., & Carranza, E. (2002). What women and men should be, shouldn't be, are allowed to be, and don't have to be: The contents of prescriptive gender stereotypes. Psychology of women quarterly, 26(4), 269-281.

Rosser, B. S., Oakes, J. M., Bockting, W. O., & Miner, M. (2007). Capturing the social demographics of hidden sexual minorities: An internet study of the transgender population in the United States. Sexuality Research & Social Policy, 4(2), 50-64.

Seelman, K. L. (2014). Transgender individuals’ access to college housing and bathrooms: Findings from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 26(2), 186-206.

Van Leeuwen, T. (1993). Genre and field in critical discourse analysis. Discourse and Society, 4(2), 193-223.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20961/jbssa.v26i1.35319

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.