Violence against women through the metaphor "slut"

Analysis of a corpus of news on gender violence in Spain (2020-2024)

Abstract

This article analyzes a purpose-built corpus of 135 metaphorical items of “vixen” extracted from newspaper articles dealing with gender-based violence published in Spain between May 2020- May 2024 (included). The study adopts the Metaphor Identification Procedure (Steen et al., 2010) for the compilation and annotation of the corpus. Using Conceptual Metaphor Theory as the methodological framework, which underscores the pivotal role played by metaphor in shaping both cognition and action (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Kövecses, 2002; Mussolf, 2012), the article shows how male batterers resort to “vixen” to dehumanize, sexualize and debase physically, intellectually, and morally women. “Vixen”, ultimately, becomes a discursive weapon to hurt women verbally, psychologically, and physically