SEXUAL CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN INSTAGRAM COMMENTS ON CUPI CUPITA’S ACCOUNT

Abstract

This study investigated how sexual conceptual metaphors were employed to construct carnal meaning in Instagram discourse, focusing on the comment section of Cupi Cupita’s official account. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson and supported by Yus’s Cyberpragmatics framework, the study examined how verbal expressions and multimodal elements, particularly emojis, interacted to communicate implicit sexual meanings in online communication. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed to analyze 64 Instagram comments collected from posts published between January and April 2025. The data were identified, classified, and interpreted according to the types of conceptual metaphors and their pragmatic functions in digital interaction. The findings indicated that structural metaphors occurred most frequently, followed by ontological, orientational, metonymic, and other metaphorical expressions that represented sexuality through indirect linguistic and symbolic forms. The analysis further revealed that emojis functioned as pragmatic cues that intensified metaphorical meanings while allowing users to express sexual desire, humor, and attraction in socially acceptable ways. These findings demonstrate that sexual conceptual metaphors in social media function not only as cognitive mechanisms for conceptualizing sexuality but also as discursive resources through which users negotiate gender, desire, and cultural values in online interaction.