Research on the Stigmatization Behind the ‘X-male’ Lexicon

This article explores the intricacy of the emergence of misandria labels in China’s social media platform. We analyze the coinage background and discourse practice features behind misandria labels of ‘X-male’ lexicon such as ‘fènghuáng nán’ and ‘wéisuó nán’, on Weibo platform, from which we collected corpus. Our investigation reveals that the misandria labels of ‘X-male’ lexicon manifest stigmatization, including implicit and interwined stigma, alongside the separation between public stigma and self-stigma. We argue that this kind of stigmatization may stem from the disruption of traditional Chinese social norms, the dominance of the capital market economy, and the amplification companied by social media, leading to trust crisis in Chinese society during the transitional period. Benefiting from our research, we can better comprehend the status of men in contemporary China, and lay the foundation for social initiatives toward gender equality.