Abstract
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called "fracking," refers to the technology used to extract natural gas primarily from shale bedrock. Most of the scholarly and media coverage of the practice, and the growing movement against it, depict fracking in terms of a contentious debate between pro- and antifracking advocates in which both sides claim that their position is supported by scientific evidence regarding whether fracking causes negative health outcomes, environmental degradation, seismic activity, and water contamination. Less attention, however, has been given to the feminist and gender implications of that debate. This critical discourse analysis examines the role that gender has played in the debates surrounding fracking by analyzing qualitative interviews, industry-sponsored articles, and news reports. Examining a series of moments in which gender has appeared in the public discourse about fracking, it argues that the fracking debate is framed through a gender perspective in ways that have produced knowledge about the nature of science, objectivity, and gender itself.