A Study Of Feminist Image Construction In Network Media

As feminism has become more widely known through social media,the stigma against feminists has intensified.This paper takes Zhihu platform as the research scope,hoping to further study the image construction of feminists in network media,so as to correct people’s negative views on feminists,enhance their self-identity,and form a joint force to fight for women’s legitimate rights and interests.In this paper,the content of questions and answers related to "feminism" on Zhihu platform was analyzed.The first 30 questions were selected according to the number of views,and the first 20 answers under each question were selected according to the number of likes,totaling 600 sample answers.After that,I coded the600 samples and constructed categories mainly around the following aspects: Topic category,topic content,presentation form,wording style,emotional attitude,feminist image,source of image cognition,definition of feminism,and attitude towards "gender equality",so as to summarize and analyze the communication characteristics of "feminism" topic on Zhihu platform and the media image of feminists on Zhihu platform,hoping to reveal the social situation by analyzing the deep reason behind the media image.This paper finds that the discussion about "feminism" on Zhihu platform is dominated by male users,and is mainly presented with ironic and sarcastic word styles and negative emotional attitudes.In addition,the stigmatized images of feminists who are hostile to men,anti-marriage and anti-fertility,radical,worship foreign languages,ugly,unpopular with men,unhappy in marriage,ignorant and with low moral standards still occupy the mainstream in the network media.The reasons are as follows: First of all,patriarchal consciousness plays a strong role in strengthening misogyny,and users with obvious patriarchal consciousness all hold negative emotional attitudes towards feminists.Second,the existence of "pseudo feminism" leads to the negative bias of the public towards feminists at the very beginning.Third,group polarization makes the public sphere of the network invaded,and users cannot form a consensus on the topic of "feminism" through continuous dialogue and expression.Fourthly,media construction continues to deepen the stigmatized image of feminists.To know real and living feminists through people or books around us is helpful to correct the cognitive bias of feminists.