Communication between politicians and the public is rarely direct and first-hand, but almost always mediated by journalists’ opinions and values. Consequently, the way in which the media reports on State matters has a profound impact on people’s understanding of political processes and their attitudes towards governing figures. The aim of this study is to investigate the role that the Polish press assumes in mediating women’s involvement in contemporary politics. Stemming from the perspective of feminist critical linguistics, the book empirically examines a wide array of media publications derived from leading Polish socio-political magazines (Polityka, Wprost, Newsweek Polska) and electronic press. By engaging with journalistic discourse, it focuses on the importance of language in generating epistemological claims about women and femininity. It demonstrates not only how female subjectivities are produced in the Polish public sphere, but also how history and culture impinge on these constructions in a dialectical-relational manner. The intention is to draw up an “inventory” of signifying practices through which female MPs emerge as gendered subjects in the hope that this will inspire closer scrutiny of media content, leading to its informed critique and transformation.

About the author: Hanna Maria Bulawka (1982) – Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham. Anglicist and media analyst. Lives in London.

Patronat: Feminoteka NEWW Polska