Construction of Gender Characters under Social Gaze: The Conceptual Alienation of Freedom in Dress and Its Solution

Abstract

On the Chinese internet, discussions about gender are often focused on by the public. The study aims to interpret how freedom in dress is alienated and discuss the gender characters and the mechanism of social gaze that constructs them. The research implements the method of process tracing in the case study to analyze the phenomenon related to a specific object. This paper includes an objective description and tracking of the event, an analysis of the mechanisms behind the phenomenon, and a generalization of the illustrated mechanism. The conclusion is that the concept of freedom in dress is alienated to be subjective and used as a commendatory phrase. The social gaze is replacing the traditional male gaze in the field and influencing individuals differently. The research emphasizes that academic words are possibly twisted and construct the connection between media, gender, and language. This research will help with understanding the gender discussions of the public and a possible renewed gender model.