| With the adjustment of family planning policy,giving birth to babies has become an increasingly important social concern widely discussed on the Internet.Individuals with certain related interests gather on the Douban,a Chinese social media,forming an online community of common interest.The Douban Life group,which has a large number of female members,as the object of this study,and utilizes Michel Foucault’s Gaze Theory to investigate the discussion on the topic of female fertility value among the group’s members.Based on the analysis of the texts discussed within the group,the paper focuses on the male gaze and the oppositional gaze of female revealed in the relevant discussion among the group.The paper discusses the hidden forces behind the gaze,and the strategies the the society and individuals utilized under the topic of fertility.The paper finds that under the male gaze,the fertility is of great importance in judging female values.Explicit state policies and implicit social rules together constitute macro-level regulation,and gender regulation is further reinforced through the construction of social clocks and myths of motherhood.In these processes,the media play an important role.The emergence of social media has broken down the limitations of traditional media and provided chances for female to voice out their opinions.The anonymity and openness of the internet has helped women get rid of fear and bravely share their personal experiences,through which they can be resonated with others with similar experiences.They are facing up to their own thoughts and feelings,and using female discourse to try to break the male gaze and confirm female subjectivity.This paper will go beyond an analysis of the texts of relevant discussions,and will go deeper to explore the political,economic and cultural influences,suggesting the need to reconstruct female discourse and subjectivity. |
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