青少女綽號裡的象徵意涵與性別互動：國中校園的民族誌探究

在校園場域中，學生們彼此取綽號是日常現象，綽號作為同儕構築人我關係的重要媒介，其象徵意涵可能傳遞著性別意義與權力關係。「誰能」任意替青少女取綽號？綽號又有何特殊性，即便青少女對於綽號意涵不滿意或感到難堪，卻又能和取綽號者進行喜怒不定的互動？我作為女性，回顧個人青少女階段生命經驗，再初步蒐集網路資料後，察覺近年青少女任由青少男取綽號的情境仍不斷發生，而那些綽號多半蘊含性別歧視性質，以及對女體或女性性徵的抨擊意涵。然而，我們或許不能忽視綽號的浮動與變化性。即便綽號表徵看似具有性別歧視問題，卻可能在同儕建立關係脈絡下，使其意涵轉化為培養情誼的媒介。緣此，本研究運用民族誌，進入台灣南部兩所國中一年級班級，並運用符號互動理論，探查綽號意涵於互動過程中產生的多變與質變，進而看見日常校園生活中，青少女置身於何種性別處境，而作為主體的她們進入綽號互動情境時，又會呈現哪些應對策略可能。本研究主要有三項研究發現。第一，青少女的綽號意涵仍有女性歧視意味。在兩間校園風格不同的國中，可察覺其綽號涵義卻具有針對女體的相通性，同時體現結構性的厭女卅愛女複雜現象。第二，在複雜的綽號互動脈絡中，即使綽號意涵帶有性別歧視意味，卻同時可能是同儕互動時培養感情的方式，而綽號蘊涵性別權力關係的秩序配置，使得青少女綽號在其機制運轉中，那些以男性為中心的象徵意涵，可能使綽號合理成立，進而和霸凌界線難以涇渭分明。第三，女同學的能動與受限，包含既有性別權力關係拉扯；但同時，女性作為符號互動的參與者，她們亦呈現詮釋、修正或轉譯、反制既有綽號的性別意義可能。

關鍵字

青少女；綽號；性別互動；符號互動論；民族誌

並列摘要

In Taiwan, it is common for teenage students to give bynames to one another. The word for byname in Mandarin in chuohao, which can mean either nickname or offensive name. While the act of chüchuohao (nicknaming or name-calling) establishes intimacy and identification, it sometimes also conveys gender and power relationships, especially when it is acted by boys upon girls. Several questions ensue: Who is authorized to byname teenage girls? What gives a byname magic, so that a teenage girl cannot but accept it with a complex mixture of feelings, including dissatisfaction, embarrassment, anger, as well as intimacy and joy of being identified? Comparing the results of my research on the Internet and my own experiences as a teenage girl more than a decade ago, I found that it is still common during recent years for teenage girls to be bynamed by their male peers—bynames which are still often sexist, targeted to mock female bodies or sexual organs. We should not, however, ignore the fluidity of meaning and cultural significance of bynames. A byname that appears to be sexist may be taken within specific contexts as a token of intimacy between peers. In light of this situation, this study adopts an ethnographic perspective and investigates the practices of bynaming by 7th-graders in two junior high schools in southern Taiwan. By utilizing symbolic interactionist theory, the study examines the multiplication, variation, and alteration of the meaning of bynames during teenage peer interactions, the gender contexts within which teenage girls are placed, and the strategies they use to cope with being bynamed within these contexts. This research discovers that, first, most of the bynames given to teenage girls remain sexist. Despite the differences between the two schools investigated, girls’ bynames are commonly associated with their bodies or body parts, embodying a paradoxical complex of structural misogyny / philogyny. Second, as sexist bynames reflex male-centered, heterosexist norms in the adult world, bynaming as such is often tacitly legitimized. The boundary line between bynaming and bullying then becomes blurred, which makes it more difficult for girls to discern and resist bullying. Third, within the complicated context of symbolic interaction, bynaming may become a means of building intimacy and peer solidarity, albeit the byname is sexist or offensive. While the girls are to some extent trapped within the web of gender power structure, they, as co-players of symbolic interaction, may also alter the meaning of sexist bynames by re-interpretation, translation, reaction, and correction.