英文摘要 |
This study examines women's sexualization of the self on social media in the context of postfeminist media culture. Postfeminist media culture refers to an emerging trend of sexualizing women. In postfeminist media culture, sexy bodies are portrayed as a site where women actively explore their sexual subjectivities, gain autonomy, and develop sexual confidence. Many debates have since centered on to what extent this trend of postfeminist media culture can be identified as sexual empowerment and agency. While the current debates on postfeminist media culture largely focus on mass media, it is now also a prominent phenomenon on social media, particularly in the form of selfies. This study is based on semi-structured interviews with women who have participated in the production of sexy selfies, exploring whether or not these experiences empower women with regard to sexual autonomy, sexual subjectivity, and sexual self-esteem. The findings demonstrate that these female users of social media develop binary distinctions in understanding sexual subjects in order to negotiate male gaze on their selfies. This includes local / western, male gaze / female autonomy, and oppressive gaze / resisting bodies. On the one hand, these women develop these binary distinctions to identify themselves as having a westernized, liberated, autonomous bodily style that challenges the local, male-dominated definition of sexiness. On the other hand, this articulation of liberation and sexual autonomy requires them to conform to the logics of capital in western-centric consumerism and reproduces the hierarchy between western and local cultures. |