Chinese Women at Gaze: Representation of Bodies of Chinese Women Aged from 18 to 30 on Tinder Dating Profiles

Proceedings of The 2nd International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality

Year: 2022

DOI:

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Chinese Women at Gaze: Representation of Bodies of Chinese Women Aged from 18 to 30 on Tinder Dating Profiles

Jiru Zeng

 

ABSTRACT: 

“Screens”, such as mobiles and Pads, have been part of people’s lives in recent years, which also provided a new sphere for the male gaze to impose its power on women. Dating apps, represented by Tinder, could be one of the most important sources of the gaze as an emerging social media genre, considering their intensive information presentation to show likes and dislikes, which shaped the presentations of users on their dating profiles to fulfil a different purpose. A content analysis on profile picture samples from Chinese women users of Tinder aged 18 to 30 illustrated that feminine touches and licenced withdrawals, which were significantly but negatively correlated to the overall vibe of independence, have been constantly employed in the profiles under the context of the male gaze. It was also witnessed from the data that body displays of Chinese women showed a much lower level of nudity than those of western and other cultures, of which pan-East Asian soft masculinity could not be ignored to explain the difference.

keywords: dating apps, male gaze, self-presentation, masculinity, femininity.