Anti-labeling: Silence spiral in the “X Yuan” case from the Perspective of Female communication

Abstract

In the Internet era, it is inevitable that the excessive consumption of user symbols brings about the phenomenon of discourse carnival. From the event of "debutante" in 2021 to the network buzzword called "X Yuan", some women have been stigmatized. The Chinese character "Yuan" represents good temperament and posture in original meaning, but it has changed to derogation, leading to the anti-labeling behaviors of female groups. Through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, it was found that in the "X Yuan" case, the process of women's reaction to the labeling reflected the spiral of silence: At the early stage of the event, the stronger the opinion perception of criticizing "X Yuan", the more silent the women were. In the medium term, opinion leaders led women to support anti labeling. With the participation of the hardcore and more ordinary users, the female group realized that the label of "X Yuan" was strongly related to their own identity, so they formed the "anti-silence sp