Qing Ma

Qing Ma

Chinese Young Women, Self-representation and Femininity on Chinese Social Media.

Supervisors: Professor Simeon YatesDr. Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova 

Contact: qingma@liverpool.ac.uk, 07579079140 

Research topic 

With the increasing prevalence of social media in the past decade, young Chinese urban women and girls actively exercise their agency on cultural production and dissemination by utilizing digital platforms. My doctoral project address particularly Chinese new form of femininities and sexuality through exploring the peculiarities of Chinese social media and cultures. The research aims to explore how the intricacies of young females’ online femininity construction and sexualized digital practices are inextricably linked to gender norms and relations in contemporary Chinese society. The research highlights how the discourse of gender and femininity is articulated through and within young females’ self-representation on the Chinese social media platform, at the same time how social media impact the young generation's awareness of gender and self-identity. 

Research areas

online femininity construction, digital self-representation, gender identity 

Academic achievements

  • Gender & Society Conference hosted by University of Nottingham Ningbo (February 2022) 
  • Doctoral Summer School hosted by ECREA European Media and Communication (September 2021)