Navigating Online Visibility: Construction of Feminine Identity in Chinese Influencers’ Affective Networked Publics

The rise of fashion and beauty influencers in China has produced highly visible representations of idealised femininity that increasingly appeal to young women and girls. This study examines how influencers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo discursively construct feminine identity through digital self-branding and how young women interpret and negotiate this mediated feminine visibility. By employing in-depth interviews with 31 Chinese urban young women and a feminist critical discourse analysis of 48 selected posts produced by leading female influencers, this study identifies three interrelated discursive resources through which idealised femininity is assembled: ambiguous feminism, an entrepreneurial beauty discourse, and aspirational consumption. Drawing on Berlant’s concept of intimate publics, the study argues that these discourses circulate affectively through relatability, producing both belonging and discipline within the community. Participants actively negotiate these representations through tactically extracting symbolic values and managing pressures to construct a legible feminine subjectivity. Furthermore, this study argues that asymmetric gendered power relations are reproduced through affective circulation within feminised digital spaces.