Within Chinese Social Media, Do the Gendered Gaze Impact the Female Appearance Anxiety of Chinese Z Generation?

Research Article
Open access

Within Chinese Social Media, Do the Gendered Gaze Impact the Female Appearance Anxiety of Chinese Z Generation?

Mufan Yu 1* , Tianjiao Zhang 2 , Yuzhi Xun 3 , Zuyan Sun 4
  • 1 School of Humanities and Arts, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau    
  • 2 College of Letters and Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, the United States    
  • 3 School of Arts, Communication University of Zhejiang, Zhejiang, China    
  • 4 Jining Confucius International School, Jining, Shandong,China    
  • *corresponding author yumufan164@gmail.com
Published on 1 March 2023 | https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7048/2/2022397
LNEP Vol.2
ISSN (Print): 2753-7056
ISSN (Online): 2753-7048
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-07-2
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-08-9

Abstract

Based on the observation of social media, the male gaze and female gaze have become two essential factors that trigger the appearance anxiety of young Chinese women. Considering the conventional patriarchal ideologies in China, the male gaze is primarily deemed the root of female appearance anxiety. However, with social media development, the female gaze has also become the origin of female appearance anxiety. Hence, the study utilized a mixed-method and took the Tik Tok as an example to lunch the research to determine whether the gendered gaze impacts their appearance anxiety while using social media for the Chinese female Z generation. Therefore, the study sent out 206 questionnaires and collected 175 effective responses; further, it did 19 in-depth female interviews aged 18 to 24 from different backgrounds. These data analyses pointed out that the female gaze is generally and gradually more influential than the male gaze, but the male gaze still invisibly and stiffly affects females in social media. In conclusion, the paper argued that the male gaze does not disappear but becomes unseen; global media promotes female empowerment so that the gaze and evaluation in the female community are increasing. In the future, for audiences, it is crucial to think of how to escape the "shackles" of media on females within the era of digital feminism.

Keywords:

female gaze, appearance anxiety, digital feminism, social media, male gaze

Yu,M.;Zhang,T.;Xun,Y.;Sun,Z. (2023). Within Chinese Social Media, Do the Gendered Gaze Impact the Female Appearance Anxiety of Chinese Z Generation?. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,2,174-183.
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References

[1]. MobTech. (2021). 2021 Plastic Surgery Statistic Report for Chinese Z Generation. Shanghai: MobTech. http://pg.jrj.com.cn/acc/Res/CN_RES/INDUS/2021/4/30/6884d45d-1551-4a06-9bc3-c78fb5dd7c7b.pdf

[2]. Mulvey, L. & Pleasure, V. (1975). Screen. In L. &. Mulvey, Narrative Cinema. pp. 9

[3]. Silverman, K. (1992). Male Subjectivity at the Margins. London : Routledge.

[4]. Hemmann, K. (2020). Manga Cultures and the Female Gaze. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

[5]. Merritt, J. (2004). Beyond Spectacle: Eliza Haywood's female spectators. University of Toronoto Press.

[6]. Malone, A. (2018). The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women. United stated of America: Mango Publishing group.

[7]. Spielberger, C. D. (1996). Anxiety and behaviour. Academic Press.

[8]. Hart, T. A., Flora, D. B., Palyo, S. A., Fresco, D. M., Holle, C., & Heimberg, R. G. (2008). Development and examination of the social appearance anxiety scale. Assessment, pp.48-59.

[9]. Ugurlu, O. (2015). Actual Agents of Women’s Self Presentation Social Networks a Design Factor: ‘Make Glorious’. Usak University Journal of Social Sciences, pp.231-248.

[10]. Boltanski, L., & Chiapello, E. . (1999).The new spirit of capitalism. Paris: Gallimard.

[11]. Jouet, J. (2018). Digital feminism: Questioning the renewal of activism. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, pp.133-157

[12]. Thelandersson, F. (2014). A Less Toxic Feminism: Can the Internet Solve the Age Old Question of How to Put Intersectional Theory into Practice? Feminist Media Studies, pp.527-530.

[13]. Babbie, E. (2013). The practice of social research. the United States: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

[14]. Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks California: Saga Publisher.

[15]. Beauvoir, S. d. (1998). The second sex. China publishing group.

[16]. Ferguson, C. J. (2011). Who is the fairest on of all? How evolution guides peer and media influences on female body dissatisfaction. Review of General Psychology, 11-28.


Cite this article

Yu,M.;Zhang,T.;Xun,Y.;Sun,Z. (2023). Within Chinese Social Media, Do the Gendered Gaze Impact the Female Appearance Anxiety of Chinese Z Generation?. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,2,174-183.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Educational Innovation and Philosophical Inquiries (ICEIPI 2022), Part I

ISBN:978-1-915371-07-2(Print) / 978-1-915371-08-9(Online)
Editor:Abdullah Laghari, Nasir Mahmood
Conference website: https://www.iceipi.org/
Conference date: 4 August 2022
Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media
Volume number: Vol.2
ISSN:2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

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References

[1]. MobTech. (2021). 2021 Plastic Surgery Statistic Report for Chinese Z Generation. Shanghai: MobTech. http://pg.jrj.com.cn/acc/Res/CN_RES/INDUS/2021/4/30/6884d45d-1551-4a06-9bc3-c78fb5dd7c7b.pdf

[2]. Mulvey, L. & Pleasure, V. (1975). Screen. In L. &. Mulvey, Narrative Cinema. pp. 9

[3]. Silverman, K. (1992). Male Subjectivity at the Margins. London : Routledge.

[4]. Hemmann, K. (2020). Manga Cultures and the Female Gaze. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

[5]. Merritt, J. (2004). Beyond Spectacle: Eliza Haywood's female spectators. University of Toronoto Press.

[6]. Malone, A. (2018). The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women. United stated of America: Mango Publishing group.

[7]. Spielberger, C. D. (1996). Anxiety and behaviour. Academic Press.

[8]. Hart, T. A., Flora, D. B., Palyo, S. A., Fresco, D. M., Holle, C., & Heimberg, R. G. (2008). Development and examination of the social appearance anxiety scale. Assessment, pp.48-59.

[9]. Ugurlu, O. (2015). Actual Agents of Women’s Self Presentation Social Networks a Design Factor: ‘Make Glorious’. Usak University Journal of Social Sciences, pp.231-248.

[10]. Boltanski, L., & Chiapello, E. . (1999).The new spirit of capitalism. Paris: Gallimard.

[11]. Jouet, J. (2018). Digital feminism: Questioning the renewal of activism. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, pp.133-157

[12]. Thelandersson, F. (2014). A Less Toxic Feminism: Can the Internet Solve the Age Old Question of How to Put Intersectional Theory into Practice? Feminist Media Studies, pp.527-530.

[13]. Babbie, E. (2013). The practice of social research. the United States: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

[14]. Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks California: Saga Publisher.

[15]. Beauvoir, S. d. (1998). The second sex. China publishing group.

[16]. Ferguson, C. J. (2011). Who is the fairest on of all? How evolution guides peer and media influences on female body dissatisfaction. Review of General Psychology, 11-28.