CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT "BEKAL BUAT SUAMI" IN A GENDER PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Abstract: In a patriarchal culture, domestic housework such as cooking, washing, cleaning the house, and taking care of kids are the responsibilities of women. While men are tasked to provide and responsible for the economic needs of the family. This dichotomous sharing duties has been rooted at the level of collective unconsciousness in the community for a long time. The dichotomy of the head of the family - housewife, public - domestic, and rational - emotional stereotype becomes the basis of gender division in Indonesian society.

The different perspective in responding to this sharing housework system triggered a polemic, one of which was the upload of the "Lunch box for Hubby" that became a trending topic on the Twitter platform on June 29, 2020. The polemic began when an account with the user name @rainydecember uploaded a thread showing a photo and recipes with the topic "Bekal buat Suami". The content was described by a narrative text that showed the position of women in the domestic world, specifically as the subject who supply the lunch meal, and men as the recipient of food supplies as well as emphasizing their role as provider in the family construction.

"Lunch box for Hubby" content was examined using Teun A. Van Dijk's critical discourse analysis with a gender approach. The research method chosen was descriptive qualitative. This study aims to describe the analysis of macro (thematic), super structure (schematic), and microstructure structures of the research object. The results of this research found a patriarchal form of discourse reproduced by the choice of language used in the content. The "Lunch box for Hubby" upload legitimizes the division of housework duties based on gender. After all, the misinterpretation in responding and the limited pattern of communication via online/virtual raised new problems including misconceptions, denials, justifications, and even has the potential to create misogynistic groups on the Twitter platform.