西方古典童話故事與中國民間故事經常被選為小孩的課外讀物，雖然這些故事內容皆屬虛構，然而卻能反映出當時代社會與文化的真實面。因此本研究藉由比較西方古典童話故事與中國民間故事中的內容來探討東西方性別意識形態的相似性與差異性。研究資料主要從西方古典童話故事與中國民間故事共選出八個具代表性的故事，分別為白雪公主、青蛙王子、長髮公主、睡美人、梁山伯與祝英台、白蛇傳、孟姜女與牛郎和織女。
本研究主要以性別言談分析(桑德蘭，2004)當作分析方法來解構出現在西方古典童話故事與中國民間故事中的各式各樣人物與故事劇情背後所隱藏的性別意識形態。在性別言談分析中會選出六個類別來分析研究資料，包含了建築言談、婚姻合法言談、男性特質言談、女性特質言談、幻想言談與壞人言談。
研究結果顯示西方古典童話故事中確實存在著性別刻板印象，但是中國民間故事卻沒有像西方古典童話故事中存在那麼多描繪男性與女性應有特質的性別印象內容。此研究在性別研究與性別教育皆有重要的啟示，這有助於消除對於性別的刻板印象與視為理想當然的性別假設，並創造出一個自由且沒有性別歧視的社會。

Western classical fairytales and Chinese folktales are usually selected for children as supplementary reading materials. Although the stories of them may be fictional, they nonetheless reflect the reality of a culture and its society. Therefore, this study was aimed at comparing the differences and similarities of gender ideology in Chinese and western folktales/fairy tales. Eight representative stories from both western classical fairytales and Chinese folktales were selected as the research materials. They are Snow White, The Frog Prince, Rapunzel, The Sleeping Beauty, Butterfly Lovers, Legend of the White Snake, Lady Meng Jiang and The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid.
This study mainly used gendered discourse analysis (Sunderland, 2004) as an analytic method to decode the gender ideology behind various characters and the plots from western classical fairytales and Chinese folktales. Six discourses were chosen from gendered discourses to categorizes and decode the research materials, i.e. architectural discourse, legal discourse, masculinity discourse, femininity discourse, discourse of fantasy and discourse of villain.
Findings showed that gender stereotypes were exactly existed in western classical fairytales; however, Chinese folktales did not contain as many stereotypical images about masculinity and femininity as the western classical fairytales. One important implication of this research for gender studies and gender education would be to dispel the stereotypical and taken-for-granted assumptions about gender, and by so doing to create a free society without gender discriminations.

摘要 i
ABSTRACT ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF TABLES vii
LIST OF FIGURES viii
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Purpose of the study 3
1.3 Significance of the Study 4
1.4 Organization of the Thesis 5
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 6
2.1 What is Gender? 6
2.1.1 The Definition of Masculinity 7
2.1.2 The Definition of Femininity 9
2.1.3 The Definition of Gender Stereotypes 10
2.2 Powerful Paper Media 11
2.3 Western Classical Fairytales 12
2.3.1 Gender Stereotypes in Western Classical Fairytales 13
2.4 Chinese Folktales 14
2.4.1 China’s Four Great Folktales 16
CHAPTER THREE METHOD 18
3.1 Research Design 18
3.2 Data Sources 21
3.2.1 Four Western Classical Fairytales Review 22
3.2.2 China’s Four Great Folktales Review 25
3.3 Data Collection Procedure 28
3.3.1 Categorizations 29
3.3.2 Collecting the Data for Analysis 31
3.3.3 Theoretically Based Interpretations 34
CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS 35
4.1 Major Discourses 35
4.1.1 Masculinity Discourses 36
4.1.1.1 Western Classical Fairytales 36
4.1.1.2 Chinese Folktales 46
4.1.2 Femininity Discourses 54
4.1.2.1 Western Classical Fairytales 54
4.1.2.2 Chinese Folktales 68
4.2 Minor Discourses 79
4.2.1 Architectural Discourses 79
4.2.1.1 Western Classical Fairytales 79
4.2.1.2 Chinese Folktales 85
4.2.2 Legal Discourses 89
4.2.2.1 Western Classical Fairytales 89
4.2.2.2 Chinese Folktales 93
4.2.3 Discourse of Villain 96
4.2.3.1 Western Classical Fairytales 96
4.2.3.2 Chinese Folktales 103
4.2.4 Discourses of Fantasy 107
4.2.4.1 Western Classical Fairytales 107
4.2.4.2 Chinese Folktales 116
4.3 Comparison & Contrast 121
4.4 Findings 131
CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 135
5.1 Discussion 135
5.2 Conclusion 142
5.3 Implications 145
5.4 Limitations of the Study 146
5.5 Suggestions for Future Research 147
REFERENCES 149
APPENDIXES 154
Appendix A Gendered Discourses for Snow-white 154
Appendix B Gendered Discourses for The Frog Prince 160
Appendix C Gendered Discourses for Rapunzel 165
Appendix D Gendered Discourses for The Sleeping Beauty 171
Appendix E Gendered Discourses for The Butterfly Lovers 176
Appendix F Gendered Discourses for The Legend of White Snake 179
Appendix G Gendered Discourses for Lady Meng Jiang 184
Appendix H Gendered Discourses for The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd 188


LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Existing named discourses 30
Table 3.2 Selected discourses 32
Table 4.1 The Comparison and Contrast in Masculinity Discourses 121
Table 4.2 The Comparison and Contrast in Femininity Discourses 125
Table 4.3 The Comparison and Contrast in Minor Discourses 128
 
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1 Research Design & Process 20

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