Expanding boundaries: “Gender Theory” and the Twitter (X) debate on gender-sensitive language use in Slovenia

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v11i1.1220
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Keywords:

gender theory, gender ideology, gender-sensitive language, anti-gender mobilization, Twitter, social network analysis

Abstract

This study examines the transition of the “gender theory” discourse from the realm of political and activist circles to the general population, focusing on the 2018 Twitter (X) debate in Slovenia regarding the gender-sensitive language policy at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. Through a mixed-methods approach combining social network analysis and linguostylistic and critical frame analyses, this paper explores the dynamics and implications of this discourse shift. Our analysis identifies distinct user communities with primarily right-leaning political affiliations, revealing how these groups navigate and emphasize various themes related to gender-sensitive language, often broadening the debate to include new topics. The concept of “gender theory” emerges as a pivotal element, serving as a unifying thread that transforms discussions into ideological battlegrounds, thereby creating an “echo chamber” effect that sidelines opposing viewpoints. The findings underscore the colonizing effect of the “gender theory” discourse, which not only diverts attention to new ideological issues but also has a de-democratizing impact by constraining the range of acceptable debate and excluding divergent perspectives. This paper corroborates the initial premise that the discourse on “gender theory” has evolved, acquiring a broader societal and ideological dimension that challenges the inclusivity of public debate.

Author Biographies

Rok Smrdelj, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology

Rok Smrdelj is an assistant at the Sociology Department of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). His field of interest is sociology of media and communication. In his dissertation entitled The Construction of the Refugee Crisis in Slovenia from the Perspective of the Hybrid Media System, which he successfully defended in October 2022, he pursuit the triangulation of classical sociological approaches with contemporary computational methods. He is currently involved in the international project FIERCE–Feminist movements revitalizing democracy in Europe (funded by the European Commission) and the research programme Problems of Autonomy and Identities at the Time of Globalisation P6-0194 (funded by the Slovenian Research Agency).

Roman Kuhar , University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology

Roman Kuhar is Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and the former dean of the Faculty of Arts (2017–2021). His work has been published in numerous academic journals and he is the author of several books including (with A. Švab) The Unbearable Comfort of Privacy (Peace Institute, 2005), (with J. Takács) Beyond the Pink Curtain: Everyday life of LGBT people in Eastern Europe (Peace Institute, 2007) and (with D. Paternotte) Anti-gender Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing against Equality (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). He is also associate editor at Social Politics (Oxford University Press) and the president of the Slovenian Sociological Association.

Monika Kalin Golob, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences

Monika Kalin Golob is Professor of Linguistic and Media Stylistic at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and the former dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (2017–2021). Her research fields are Language Culture, Stylistics of Journalism, PR and Advertising, Language Planning and Language Policy. Her bibliography is available on:
https://bib.cobiss.net/bibliographies/si/webBiblio/bib201_20230312_184242_15000.html 

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Published

2025-09-18

How to Cite

[1]
Smrdelj, R., Kuhar , R. and Kalin Golob, M. 2025. Expanding boundaries: “Gender Theory” and the Twitter (X) debate on gender-sensitive language use in Slovenia. Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics. 11, 1 (Sep. 2025), 111–138. DOI:https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v11i1.1220.

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2025): Eastern and Central European political discourses from the perspective of computational social science - Part 2

Section

Research Papers

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