Gendered performances and norms in Chinese personal blogs

Abstract

This paper focuses on a study of identity-related performance in personal blogs. The study is based on an analysis of three A-list Chinese personal blogs (Muzi Mei’s blog, Liumang Yan’s blog, and Acosta’s blog) selected from the top blog service providers in China between 2003 and 2006. A lifestyle mapping model composed of layers of social demographics, interests, activities, and opinions was employed in the data analysis. The analysis revealed that gender was a critical aspect of the performances in personal blogs. Their performances revolved around gendered social norms in terms of compliance, contention, negation, and recreation, even though the performances were diverse and heterogeneous. The study proposes that personal blogs have become an online space and medium for enacting gender and gendered performances.