Abstract

The issue of gender-based violence (GBV) against women in South Africa is prevalent in mainstream and online social media. Women and girls are targeted in what is seemingly becoming a prolonged cycle of GBV in the country. Human right activists, organisations, and political leaders condemn this violence through various platforms, including the media. Civil society in South Africa have organised and mobilised marches and protests, tirelessly speaking out against the issue of violence against women in the country. The focus of this study is to explore and analyse how counter-discourse has been used against GBV in the country and used to reject commonly held assumptions about GBV. Through the purposive sampling of selected posts/placards used during marches and protests collected from online sources, this article examines how language is being used to combat and expose the issue of GBV and how language, when used mindfully and purposefully, could be a crucial tool in curbing GBV, including femicide, abuse, assault, rape, and violence, amongst other crimes.

摘要

南非针对妇女的基于性别的暴力（GBV）问题在主流和在线社交媒体中普遍存在。妇女和女童在该国似乎已成为GBV延长周期的对象。人权活动家，组织和政治领导人通过包括媒体在内的各种平台谴责这种暴力行为。南非的民间社会组织和动员了游行和抗议活动，不懈地表达了对该国对妇女的暴力行为的问题。这项研究的重点是探索和分析该国如何针对GBV使用反话语，并否定了关于GBV的普遍假设。通过对从网上渠道收集的游行和抗议活动中使用的选定帖子/标语进行有目的的抽样，