Transitivity and Gender Bias: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Women’s Social Position in the Middle East

The current study, entitled "Transitivity and Gender Bias: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Women’s Social Position in the Middle East," explores the impact of media discourse on the social positioning of women, particularly in the Middle East. Utilizing critical discourse analysis (CDA) and one of systemic functional linguistic tools (namely transitivity), set of comments from two videos that depict incidents of domestic violence against women are analysed. The analysis aims at revealing structures of transitivity that shape, reflect and reinforce gender biases. Thus, it aims at revealing the way language structure changes and reflects social perceptions about Middle Eastern women. The study concludes that female characters, the victims, are depicted as responsible for their abuse, while male characters, the abusers, are framed in a sympathetic scenario. The study, further, shows that both visibility and tonality bias are utilized in the process of switching victim/attacker roles in the comments.