Constructing and Contesting the “New Woman”: Gendered Discourses in the May Fourth Era
Abstract
Set against the intellectual and cultural transformation of early twentieth-century China, this paper investigates how the image of the "New Woman" was constructed and contested during the May Fourth era. It focuses on the tension between male-dominated discourse and women's self-expression, drawing on New Youth, The Ladies' Journal, and literary works by Lu Xun, Ding Ling, and Lu Yin. The study finds that while male intellectuals often represented women as symbols of national progress and moral reform, female writers reinterpreted modern womanhood through emotional, bodily, and experiential narratives that reflected individual consciousness and agency. This interaction between male and female perspectives revealed the contradictions within the enlightenment ideals of the period. It demonstrated how women's writing transformed abstract discourses of emancipation into lived, self-aware experiences. The research highlights the complex dynamics of gender and modernity in shaping early Chinese feminist consciousness.
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