Normal confident guys

Chinese female stand-up comedians performing, triggering, and commercializing the “female complaint

Bibliographic Data

ID7154378
AuthorsDeya Xu (0000-0002-9276-6745, East China Normal University), Tingting Liu (0000-0002-8179-6180, Jinan University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume25
Issue5
Pages1116-1131
Publication date2025-07-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Media Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14680777.2024.2339999
OpenAlexW4394750285
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited36

In the fast-evolving global context of audiovisual streaming services, stand-up comedy shows, such as Rock & Roast, have become a popular medium for articulating, expressing, and critiquing significant social-cultural concerns in China. This article examines how Chinese female stand-up comedians enact, activate, and monetize the “female complaint,” originally theorized by Lauren Berlant, suggests that women’s experiences are often marked by a pursuit of love that proves to be both demanding and unrewarding. We contend that in the Chinese context, female stand-up comedians have devised ways to express soft, safe, and marketable “female complaints” that align with their goals of profitable performances and adherence to the Communist Party’s standards of positive energy. As such, the article enriches Berlant’s theory of the female complaint by infusing it with a global perspective, exploring new mediums of expression (stand-up comedy), highlighting the interplay with political and economic dynamics, and situating it within the specific cultural and feminist context of China

Advertising · Art · Business · China · Comedy · Communism · Complaint · Literature · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Visual arts · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · History · Law · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

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