The Digital Rhetoric of Resistance: Intersectional Feminist Praxis by a Pakistani Instagram Activist

Digital Rhetoric of Resistance

Abstract

This research examines the discourse of resistance produced by a Pakistani feminist influencer to challenge the patriarchal norms and gender hierarchies. We have collected fifty posts from the Instagram account of Atee (@myavaaz). We have employed Feminist Critical Discourse analysis to examine how the discourse constructs and deconstructs the gender inequalities. The analysis shows that Atee utilizes various discursive strategies, including evaluative language, first-person narration, and rhetorical questions. Her use of carousel posts strategically exposes post-marriage oppression, in-laws' control, and the normalization of abuse. The result foregrounds the micro-level domestic oppression where women face confinement to household labor, emotional manipulation, and economic dependence. Together, these mechanisms reveal how these social anomalies are sustained and produced through everyday discourses in Pakistani society. Focusing on Instagram as a feminist site of resistance, this study contributes to the burgeoning field of feminist critical discourse analysis and Pakistani feminism.