Exploring the new femininities' (self-)perception of media culture influence amid feminist popularization in Spain.

This study explores how "new femininities"—women aged 18 to 40 in Spain educated under principles of gender equality and postfeminist "Girl Power" culture—perceive the influence of popular media culture on their identities. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews with 30 women, the research identifies divergent views between those who identify as feminists and those who reject or are ambivalent toward feminism regarding media's role in shaping feminine identity and subjectivity. While all participants recognize media portrayals of a "new modern woman" emphasizing autonomy and freedom of choice, feminists tend to critically engage with these representations and acknowledge media's pervasive impact on their self-conception, whereas non-feminists often perceive media influence as limited or controllable. The findings highlight the ambivalence of contemporary media culture, which simultaneously advances feminist visibility and equality while promoting neoliberal postfeminist ideals and normative, often exclusionary, femininity stereotypes.