Pocket Memes and the Gendered Pocket: A Social Listening Approach to Intertextuality on Twitter

Eaton, Ruth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0209-0879 (2025) Pocket Memes and the Gendered Pocket: A Social Listening Approach to Intertextuality on Twitter. IMAGE (Zeitschrift für interdisziplinäre Bildwissenschaft/ Journal for Interdisciplinary Image Science), 42 (2). pp. 190-208. ISSN 1614-0885

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Abstract

The pocket, often the subject of gendered discourse and production, is both celebrated and maligned, particularly in relation to disparities in the size and functionality of pockets in men’s and women’s clothing. Prompted by a personal experience of newfound mobility after childbirth, this paper interrogates the gendered dimensions of pocket design and explores how such everyday features reflect broader norms around autonomy, access, and embodiment. Focusing on pocket memes posted by Twitter users between 2019 and 2021, the study employs a social listening approach (cf. Stewart/Arnold 2018) to analyse both the memes and their related commentary. Drawing on Partington’s interpretation of intertextuality, which posits that meaning is generated through the viewer’s relationship with images/objects rather than the inherent properties of the images or objects themselves (cf. Partington 2013: 15). These digital artefacts are understood not as isolated images, but as part of a complex interplay of intertextual references that reflect and shape user experience. This paper explores how participatory practices of sharing and consuming memes can facilitate online co-creation. Specifically, it investigates the role of memes featuring pockets, in communicating wearer experience of clothing pieces. The aim here is to highlight the potential of meme culture as a form of participatory commentary that reshapes perceptions of such everyday objects like the pocket. By combining insights from dress history, digital media, and feminist critique, this research demonstrates the value of social listening in understanding the intertextuality of memes from the perspective and experience of the consumer. The handbag—a frequent object of gendered discourse and production—is both celebrated and vilified, particularly in relation to differences in its size and functionality as an accessory for men and women. Prompted by a personal experience of newfound mobility with a newborn, this article examines the gendered dimensions of handbag design and explores how such everyday items reflect broader norms of autonomy, access, and corporeality. The study focuses on pocket memes posted by Twitter users between 2019 and 2021 and employs a social listening approach (see Stewart / Arnold 2018) to analyze both the memes themselves and the accompanying comments. Following Partington's interpretation of intertextuality, which assumes that meaning is generated through the viewer's relationship to images or objects and not through their inherent properties (cf. Partington 2013: 15), these digital artifacts are not understood as isolated images, but as part of a complex interplay of intertextual references that reflect and shape users' experiences. This article examines how participatory practices of sharing and consuming memes can facilitate collective online creation. Specifically, it explores the role of memes depicting or at least addressing bags in conveying the experience of wearing clothes. The aim is to highlight the potential of meme culture as a form of participatory commentary that alters the perception of everyday objects like bags. By combining insights from fashion history, digital media, and feminist critique, this research project demonstrates the value of social listening for understanding the intertextuality of memes from the perspective and experience of their consumers.