Feminist Subversion of Linguistic Sexism in Contemporary China
Discursive Warfare
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Publishing:22nd Sep '26
£155.00
This title is due to be published on 22nd September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Feminist Subversion of Linguistic Sexism in Contemporary China: Discursive Warfare provides an in-depth investigation of gender discourse with a focus on social labeling in post-reform China.
The book delves into society’s tendency to perceive women in categories, explores the social and historical context of mainstream media’s role in perpetuating sexism, demonstrates feminist discursive empowerment in cyberspace, and sheds light on the complexities of a feminist awakening in today’s China. Using corpus linguistics analysis, critical discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics analysis, the book highlights feminist subversion of linguistic sexism in public gender discourse, illustrating shifting roles for women from being passive targets of gender labeling to proactive agents rebuking the biased gender order. It offers a fresh perspective that encourages readers to view language as a conduit for belief systems, often operating beneath the surface, and to recognize its role in constructing and challenging gender norms. It also provides readers with a deeper understanding of contemporary Chinese women’s aspirations for agency and their determined resistance against the masculinist nature of state order.
This is a key resource for scholars and postgraduate students of Chinese language and linguistics with a particular interest in media, political, and gender discourse.
"Feminist Subversion of Linguistic Sexism in Contemporary China exposes the machinery of linguistic violence wielded by state media—and the insurgent counter-discourses forged by grassroots feminist activists and amplified through digital networks. Written amid escalating censorship of feminist expressions in China, Lang’s timely study shows how language operates as both an instrument of patriarchal domination and a site of political resistance. It argues forcefully for linguistic activism, revealing how struggles over gender equality in the digital age are waged and contested, word by word, on an increasingly militarized digital battlefield."
Ping Zhu, Professor of Transnational Chinese Studies at UC San Diego, USA
"Jun Lang’s new book offers an interdisciplinary study of gender labeling in contemporary China through the prisms of language, history, and technology. With its innovative approach, this groundbreaking work is a must read for anyone who feels uneasy about the rising risks of big-data AI-driven sexism and a technology-fueled misogynist culture in our everyday lifeworld."
Hui Faye Xiao, Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Kansas, USA
"Jun Lang’s Feminist Subversion of Linguistic Sexism in Contemporary China: Discursive Warfare is a bold, incisive, and rigorously researched study of language as a frontline in global gender politics. With methodological precision and theoretical clarity, grounded in China yet resonant worldwide, the book traces sexist labels from state media to everyday discourse, revealing how women cleverly, collectively, and creatively reclaim linguistic agency. I see this as a must-read across feminism, linguistics, media studies, and the social sciences."
Kate Rose, co-author of 'Weibo Feminism', USA
ISBN: 9781041032267
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
190 pages