Expression And Construction

As a synonym for older unmarried women,"leftover women" has always been the object of media construction and consumption.At the same time,the development of new media has provided more possibilities for the expression of "leftover women".They wander in the "leftover" anxiety,and are ignored by the society,so it is of practical significance to study the media discourse of "leftover women".This study uses content analysis,text analysis and other research methods,taking the news reports on "leftover woman" in the mainstream online media Renmin.com and the posts in the online community Baidu "leftover woman bar" as the research object,analyzing the media construction discourse and self-presentation discourse of "leftover women" in detail,focusing on the conflict and order in the construction of these two media discourses,and explore whether the expression of "leftover women" on the new media platform achieves gender empowerment.The study finds that from the content dimension,the media's "leftover women" reports have a selection bias in terms of news genre,reporting theme,and presentation of image characteristics,which strengthens three more extreme and negative media images of "the deceived and poor","the glamorous and beautiful" and "the selective and picky".In-depth research has found that there are construction strategies of "dimension of discourse image","discourse-oriented spectacle" and "elitism of discourse right" behind the media reports.It is worth noting that from the perspective of time,news media reports on "leftover women" show the tendency to "de-label",after going through three stages of "label generation","label correction" and "removal of label",which shows that the media has begun to make an effort for gender equality.New media technology has changed the situation of mass media controlling discourse.The rise of the online community provides a public space for the voice of the "leftover women".They spontaneously gathered together,freely expressing the discourses of "marriage attribution","marriage reality" and "marriage expectation",which present three main group images of "rational and self-aware women waiting for marriage","new women enjoying single" and "urgently married women with contradictions and losses".As a technology,new media has brought the possibility of free expression,but this doesn't mean that the "leftover women" group has truly gained the right to speak.On the one hand,the "leftover women" discourse of the media is deeply influencedand restricted by political and economic discourse.On the other hand,the "leftover women" in the online public space still lack the subjective consciousness,and the public discourse continues to construct symbolic violence against the "leftover women".As a result,the dual crisis of social identity and self-cognition of older unmarried women essentially copied the real-world gender issues into the cyberspace.Reshaping the "leftover woman" media images and their right to speak requires social efforts.On the one hand,women should insist on maintaining self-awareness when they are constructed.The public as bystanders should improve online media literacy and gender equality awareness.On the other hand,gender reporting should work harder in the direction of detachment,balance and justice,and build a true "bridge" for the public's correct perception.