Construction of Feminity and Masculinity in the Discourse to Popularize a Science. The Analysis of Discursive Strategies

The purpose of this paper is to present the analyses of the discursive strategies of constructing gender difference in the articles published in the Science in Poland bulletin. This bulletin is an important platform for the popularization of Polish and world science. It is funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland. In the article, I assume that gender is a socially constructed structure (including discursive) level, about the difference between men and women, especially anatomically. Starting from the assumptions of the theory of discourse, which is understood as the process of producing and reproducing social meaning, the analysis includes articles published on the website between 2005 and 2010. In the first part of the paper, I introduce the definition of gender and gender beliefs, which are an important context for the analysis. Then, the content and the method of research (the analysis of discourse) are characterized. In the last part of the paper, the results of research characterizing the main discursive strategies reproducing gender in polarized, homogeneous, and universal categories are presented.