Moralized Trigger Loops of Gender Politics in Alternative Media Spheres

This article explores how gender politics become moralized focal points of conflict within increasingly fragmented, hybrid, and alternative media environments. Drawing on feminist media studies and scholarship on affective polarization, as well as Mau et al.’s notion of trigger points (2023), it introduces the concept of “moralized trigger loops”—repetitive, emotionally charged cycles in which gender-related questions are amplified across digital and alternative media spheres. While earlier research has positioned alternative media primarily as emancipatory counterpublics, recent work shows how new forms of alternative media are actively engaged in the (re)production of anti-feminist, reactionary, and moralized gender discourse. Yet little is known about how users of such outlets themselves negotiate gender issues, how moralization unfolds affectively in their everyday media practices, and how these dynamics evolve over time. Based on a longitudinal qualitative panel study with system-critical alternative media users (n = 33) over three years, this article investigates how gender politics emerge as moralized sites of contestation within diverse media repertoires including alternative media. It argues that such processes transform gender-related debates into enduring affective loops that sustain and reshape mediatized publics.