Representation Of The Intersectionality Of The Women’s March On Washington 2017 On Stage

This paper has examined the representation of the intersectionality of the Women’s March on Washington(WMW)2017 through the analysis of a five-hour video live broadcast by American Broadcasting Company(ABC).This mobilizing event was analyzed as a social performance with Jeffrey C.Alexander’s framework to see how intersectionality has been represented through both the arrangement of the event and the content of the speeches.The WMW 2017 got birth in the antipathy towards Donald Trump,the fear of various social groups towards the doomed future of their country and themselves,and the despair of the feminists.Such social background provided the materials for the performances of the speakers to mobilize the mass.Though the event was mainly in the form of speeches,the study of the event focused not only on the speeches but the whole social performance.Jeffrey C.Alexander’s social performance theory identified the elements of social performance and could serve as a systematic approach for this research.This paper combined the content analysis and textual analysis,finding that this mobilizing event has demonstrated its consciousness of intersectionality from both the composition of the speakers and the content of the speeches:Not only did many of the speakers invited to this event have intersectional identities and represent different marginalized groups,but the speakers would also adopt some techniques to address as many topics as they could to echo the call for the intersectionality of the event.However,the arrangement was also found to prefer the organization speakers and politicians to the individual speakers.Through the content analysis of the transcript,it is observed that,among all the themes stated in the Unity Principle of this movement,the reproductive rights received the most attention throughout the event while the disability rights received the least.Besides,as the event was trying to be inclusive,its demonstration of intersectionality somehow stopped at the level of diversity,which failed to find out a more solid common ground for the coalition.The speakers in the event mainly chose the shortcut to pack different appeals in the package of intersectionality to call on the coalition.However,the event was still considered as having presented a relatively successful performance given the anxiety shared by the minority groups and the social antipathy towards Donald Trump.