“All sisters must experience the endorphin rush!” A virtual discourse-ethnographic study on neoliberalism female fitness community on Bilibili

ABSTRACT

Taking Bilibili as the analyzing platform, this study explores the linguistic and cultural features of neoliberalism female fitness communities on social media in China. By combining Discourse-Ethnographic Analysis (DEA), Corpus-assisted Discourse Analysis (CADA), and sentimental analysis, this study explores the construction of individual identities, societal values, and collective identities within these communities, as well as the ways in which members establish relationships and engage in fan-idol dynamics. The study reveals the presence of postfeminist biopedagogies, peer surveillance, and the formation of a fandom-centered discourse influenced by neoliberal and postfeminist values. Meanwhile, the use of terms like “sister” fosters pseudo-kin relationships, conveying both closeness and fellowship while challenging male-dominated societal norms. The findings contribute to understanding female fitness communities on social media, highlighting the construction of identity, relationships, and social values in digital spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Online female fitness communities
• Bilibili
• postfeminism
• neoliberalism
• DEA
• CADA

Acknowledgement

We would like to express our gratitude to editors and anonymous reviewers for their extraordinarily helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Shandong Social Science Planning Project [grant number 21DYYJ05], Basic research funds for colleges and universities in Autonomous region [grant number XJEDU2022P031], and 2022 Autonomous Region “Tianchi Talent” Introduction Plan Project.

Notes on contributors

Jingshen Ge

Jingshen Ge is now a lecturer in the College of Liberal Arts, Journalism and Communication at Ocean University of China. His research interests lie at the intersections of critical discourse studies, feminism, media and cultural studies.

Weiqi Tian

Weiqi Tian is now a lecturer in Foreign Language College at Xinjiang University and fellow of Key Research Center of Humanities and Social Sciences in Colleges and Universities，Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. Her research interests include Critical Discourse Studies, Corpus Linguistics, media and cultural studies.