消费时代大众传播媒介与中国“女人味”神话

Mass Media and Chinese ″Femininity″ Myth in the Consumption Age

大众传播媒介正在举办越来越多针对女性的活动,这些活动和媒介展示的女性形象(影视作品、广告)的诉求构成了今天的中国“女人味”神话。用福轲关于人的构成模式的理论分析这个神话的制造过程,我们看到媒介在普遍的生物学、经济学和语言学三个方面深化“女人”的知识,又在媒介的市场营销策略中把女性的特质变成可以消费的观念和物品。“女人味”神话是在接受刺激—生理刺激、产生欲望—经济刺激、表达自己—话语刺激的循环过程中“诞生”的。

At the end of 2006, it was reported in The Times that the consumption of Chinese female cosmetics accounted for 10% of women＇s total income. At the same time, news from Chinese News Website said that women in Hangzhou spent 970 million RMB on their ＂face＂ annually according to statistics elicited in 2006. The conventional prejudice of ＂women being inferior to men＂ is deep-rooted in China and women are always in the state of being enjoyed and philandered by males. Such a situation primarily prevails within the family and women are practically prevented from social activities. However, the rapid increase of Chinese female cosmetics consumption and the high frequency of women＇s appearance before mass media in this era of consumption do not denote the improvement of women＇s status. On the contrary, they are the outcome of the ＂femininity＂ myth created by the mass media and the consumption market in collaboration. It is apparent that the mass media have deepened the concept of ＂femininity＂ in terms of general biology, economics and linguistics in the light of Foucault＇s theory of the structural model of human beings. Firstly, at the layer of biology, women are simplified as ＂ three circumferences＂--chestline, waistline and hipline respectively to satisfy male desire of peep, and they are exposed as ＂flesh＂ by the mass media. Secondly, from the perspective of economics,women are cultivated with strong desires for market by consumption goods and their extra-concepts and then molded into ＂acceptable women＂ by consuming massive ＂woman＂ goods. Thirdly, in terms of discourse, women only play a subordinate role, whether in the narration of social events or personal affairs.