Biopolitics and gender in China. Media discourse in the repression of women

Abstract

Biopolitics is a concept defined by Michel Foucault as the control of bodies by power structures. One of the mechanisms through which this power is materialised is gender itself, the effectiveness of which is incalculable as it is something that is conceived as natural, inherent and universal. Biopolitics exercised through gender is a reality that is perfectly applicable to today's societies in which power continues to exercise control over bodies according to its interests. China is a clear example of how this form of oppression is still in force and is mainly exercised on women's bodies. Given the profits that the cosmetics industry and the sex industry are bringing to the Chinese national coffers, the model of femininity so strictly maintained in the country is changing to serve the interests of the market. The media are the main creators of a female identity based on the cult of the body and the return of traditional femininity values that were thought to have been superseded. This new trend exercised through the power of representation functions as a truly effective control mechanism that focuses women's interests and concerns solely on aesthetics in order to curb their potential to fight for liberation and real equality. Another of the strategies employed is the association of the ideal of beauty with sexual pleasure, which produces greater acceptance on the part of women and therefore a greater predisposition on their part to assimilate these messages that modify the collective imaginary, generating a sensation of empowerment and freedom that is hardly comparable with reality.