Antigender Rhetoric, Gendered Media Framing, and Authoritarian Legitimation:The Representation of Women Protesters and Audience Engagement in Georgia

Sammanfattning

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Georgian government has played a double game between the European Union and Russia, despite being granted EU candidate status in December 2023. In spring 2024, Georgian Dream adopted a new Foreign Agent Law, followed by additional restrictive legislation aimed to consolidate power. After the contested and widely reported rigged elections of October 2024, the Prime Minister announced on 28 November 2024 a suspension of Georgia’s European integration process. Since then, daily protests have taken place in Tbilisi, reaching a peak in both turnout and violence during the first month of mobilisation. For the first time, Georgian Dream has used systematic force not only against protesters in general, but directly targeting female protesters. The aim of this thesis is to examine how antigender narratives and gendered media framing contribute to authoritarian legitimation in Georgia. The findings highlight a deliberate strategy of defeminisation and dehumanisation of female protesters, who are framed as traitors and foreign enemies working to undermine the state. These narratives are intertwined with masculine political discourse and fears of Western cultural influence, revealing how gendered propaganda is instrumentalised to legitimise repression.