Pakistani society is believed to be dominated by men and they are thought to be the protector and guardians of women. A recent study performed the Multimodal Discourse Analysis to explore how Pakistani men are using the advanced social communication patterns (Facebook) to further assert the existing socio-cultural norms of Pakistani society and support the Patriarchal Culture.
Pakistani society is primarily thought to be male-dominated where women are expected to perform only specific roles defined by societal norms. Men love to express their superiority over women and they use different ways for this purpose. With advanced and transformed modes of communication, Pakistani men also adopted new ways to express their opinions and exhibit their superiority.
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms among Pakistanis. As per the figures provided by Statista.com, until January 2023, there were 37.3 million Facebook users in Pakistan.
Using the Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Rauha Salam from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, investigated the ways Pakistani men use to develop their gender identities on Facebook. The study findings revealed that Pakistani men not only sustain the existing socio-cultural norms and discussions but also there are significant signs of diversion from the established models of masculinity.
The author stated three basic reasons for using Multimodal Discourse Analysis:
- It helps in investigating the data that includes graphics, pictures, signs, gestures, posture, gaze, visuals, and layout, etc. used for analysis in this study
- Multimodal Discourse analysis assumes that these modes of communication are culturally bound since they are socially and historically outlined to accomplish particular societal functions
- Semiotic resources (means of meaning-making) play an important role in individuals thinking process: they are deployed to achieve particular goals and so are used to uphold specific ideologies
The main focus of the author is to answer the following research questions:
- How do Pakistani men develop their identities via Facebook Posts?
- Is there any evidence of moving away from the traditional masculinity practices?
Rauha Slam (2021) used the screenshots of 300 Facebook posts of selected study participants from South Punjab. The data included both textual as well as visual content these users shared on their timelines. The interesting point in her study and data collection process is that the selected participants allowed the researcher to access their Facebook pages on the condition that she would not go through the comments on their posted content. The main reasons they provided behind this restriction was that 1) this is not justifiable on moral ground for her as being a โMuslim womanโ and 2) this would negatively affect their offline relations.
This probably reflects that they felt a bit insecure by giving access to their Facebook pages and it seems quite normal as a Facebook account is something personal and people do not want to make every post public, especially in the context of Pakistani culture.
Taking this factor into consideration and following research ethics, the researcher informed the participants about the nature and objective of the study in detail and assured them full confidentiality and anonymity of the data selected for analysis. Study participants belonged to the middle and upper-middle class and fell between the ages of 18 to 30 years as the researcher believed that these social classes are specifically concerned about and follow religious and cultural norms more rigorously and during this time frame, an individual builds a sense of self and acquires autonomy. So, these characteristics of the participants seemed to support the study objective quite well.
Rauha Salam provided two basic reasons for focusing on South Punjab in her study:
- South Punjab is a relatively backward and culturally conservative part of the Province where the authority of feudal landlords is backed by political support
- In the wake of the national elections of 2018, social media played a critically important role to raise awareness among the general public and moderated their fears by providing them a platform to challenge the traditional feudal system prevailing in South Punjab.
In South Punjab, itโs a cultural norm to give high importance to males and their opinion. Females are taught from childhood to respect and obey male members of the family. Also, the mixed gathering of males and females is not liked and practiced. This practice somehow reflects our religious values as well since Islam does not support the meeting of twoโNa-Mehramsโ and expects males and females to follow the boundaries set by Quran and Hadith.
This cultural aspect seems to support the behavior of male Facebook users from South Punjab to use the medium to express their superiority over the females. However, the findings of the study reflected on another interesting and important aspect of the behavior of users:
Pakistani men try to show the softer side of their gendered identities through Facebook Posts. They use different images, quotes, lyrics of romantic songs, and poetic content to communicate their loyalty with females associated with them in the role of sister, mother, daughter, wife, and other โMehram Relationsโ.
However, on the other side, the analysis also revealed some participants used Facebook posts to target women as foolish. Male Facebook users from South Punjab also loved to use FB posts to show their political associations and to support their favourite politicians.
Overall, the study results showed that male Facebook users try to reflect on the softer side of their gendered identities in addition to confirming their traditional roles and superiority over women. However, the results and conclusions cannot be generalized to all parts of Pakistan since they reflect male attitudes from a particular part (South Punjab) of a single province.
Do you agree with the author that Pakistani culture is male-dominated? Please share your opinions and experiences in the comments below!
References:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268136/top-15-countries-based-on-number-of-facebook-users/
