Gender differences in deliberative contexts: A situated affectivity perspective

This essay examines gender differences in deliberative contexts from the perspective of situated affectivity, aiming to address a gap in this field as identified by Afsahi (2021). Drawing on the idea that the environment and emotions mutually shape each other, this paper recognizes that context establishes the framework for the expected range of emotions individuals are supposed to experience and conform to, also known as emotional repertoire. My objective is to explore the implications of this concept applied to gendered beings in deliberative practices. If both political actors' engagement in discourse (Dryzek & Jass, 2014) and emotional repertoire are structured by the cultural environment (Parkinson et al., 2015), then it is possible to analyse deliberative engagement together with the cultural articulation of emotional scaffolding. Specifically, gender identity will be considered as providing scaffolding for the formation of one's emotional repertoire in order to examine how emotions related to identity, such as shame, may serve as instruments in perpetuating marginalized social identities. This approach aims to provide a deeper understanding of gender differences and their implications in deliberative contexts, while also shedding light on how deliberative contexts may reproduce mechanisms of domination.