The anxiety over soft masculinity

A critical discourse analysis of the “prevention of feminisation of male teenagers” debate in the Chinese-language news media

Bibliographic Data

ID7516461
AuthorsYating Yu (0000-0002-9416-0130, Department of English and Communication, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China, corresponding author), Hongsheng Sui (0000-0002-2541-8652, Zhejiang University)
Year2022
Volume23
Issue5
Pages2188-2201
Publication date2022-03-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Media Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14680777.2022.2046124
OpenAlexW4221036156
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited29

Although the emergence of soft masculinity has incited much controversy in China, little research attention has been given to the discussion about the effeminate Chinese masculinity in the news media featuring public opinions at the national level. To fill this gap, this study employed critical discourse analysis to investigate the dominant discourses surrounding the “Prevention of Feminisation of Male Teenagers” debate and its ideological implications in the Chinese-language news media. The findings show that the media constructed anti-feminine discourse, nationalistic discourse, and anti-gender stereotype discourse with ideological implications for patriarchy, nationalism, and egalitarianism via various discursive strategies, specifically abstraction, authorisation, categorisation, morality, and rationalisation. This study sheds light on the diverse voices and concerns of the emergence of soft masculinity that have not been given much attention in the literature

Critical discourse analysis · Discourse analysis · Ideology · Linguistics · Masculinity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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