A virtual gender asylum? The social media profile picture, young Chinese women’s self-empowerment, and the emergence of a Chinese digital feminism

Chang, Jiang; Ren, Hailong; Yang, Qiguang

doi:10.1177/1367877916682085

Cited by 47 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Following the developments in the application of CDA on digital media, there has been a critical reminder that CDA is also about analysing the intersection of discourse and power relations in the context of ordinary citizens' everyday social media use (Bouvier and Machin 2018) or what KhosraviNik (2017) terms as digitally mediated, bottom-up discourse. This argument has been used to explore various forms of discursive power exercise reflected in Chinese digital cultures (Chang, Ren, and Yang 2018;Huang 2020;Peng 2020b). Following Fairclough's (2003) scholarship, the exercise of power through language use involves mobilising available communicative resources to "evoke a particular persona, construct relationships, and define situations" (Guo 2019, 333).…”

Section: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“She uses men to boost her career”: Chinese digital cultures and gender stereotypes of female academics in Zhihu discourses

et al. 2021

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Portrayed by the media as the story of "how a female PhD juggles intimate relationship with four male PhD academics", the LM incident, named after the female main character of the story, was a high-profile case, which provoked public debates on Chinese social media in 2019. In this article, we explore how the stereotyping of female PhDs plays out in Chinese Internet users' discussions about the LM incident. We collected a total of 632 relevant posts from the most popular Chinese community question-answering (CQA) site -Zhihu and analysed them by drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA). The research findings reveal how a sexualised portrayal of female PhDs, which is dramatically "different" from the traditional, asexual stereotypes of well-educated women, is established in Zhihu users' postings. Many Zhihu users, including both women and men, mobilise an overwhelmingly sexualised portrayal of female PhDs, which speaks to the normalisation of patriarchal discourses in the status quo of Chinese academia and beyond. The research findings shed light on post-socialist gender politics, which facilitates the perpetuation of gender essentialism in China in the post-reform era.

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Section: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“She uses men to boost her career”: Chinese digital cultures and gender stereotypes of female academics in Zhihu discourses

et al. 2021

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“…As a platform for self-display, WeChat has contributed prominently to the gender consciousness of contemporary women in China, enabling them to articulate Confucianist ideals with feminist sensibilities in everyday life. They can thereby explore possibilities for establishing a new collective identity that is politicized through the active use of digital technologies (Chang & Tian, 2020;Chang, Ren, & Yang, 2018). For female immigrants, however, their uncertain and shaky identities posed a serious obstacle in adapting to host societies and cultures.…”

Section: Identity Reaffirmation Through Self-displaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Chinese first, woman second: Social media and the cultural identity of female immigrants

Chen

Tian

Chang

2021

Asian Journal of Women's Studies

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Based on the conceptual framework of digital diaspora, this article explores the role social media plays in the development of migrant cultural identity and its political potential among digital forms. Using in-depth interviews and online observations, it analyzes the motives, purposes, strategies and outcomes of the use of WeChat, a leading Chinese social media platform, by Chinese female immigrants in Switzerland. Through thematic analysis, the article distills three patterns of WeChat usage by these women. Firstly, it notes how they make use of the technological affordances of WeChat to remain connected with their native culture. Secondly, it explains how, after acquisition of economic capital, they are able to forge a steady intersectional identity in their new host country. And finally, it problematizes their strategy to strive for social equality.

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“…The strong consumerism in contemporary China, which targets the young females as main customers, also boosts their confidence and pushes their desire to express themselves. In short, these urban daughters are the driving force behind the rise of 'digital feminism' (Chang, et al 2018) in China. By using social media as the main platform of fighting, these young females have campaigned for a wide range of causes (Han, 2018).…”

Section: Literature Review: Carceral Feminism and Populist Authoritarianismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Bottom-Up Reform of Sex Offender Registration in China: Carceral Feminism and Populist Authoritarianism

Chen

2020

Crime Law Soc Change

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In 2017, the Minhang District of Shanghai introduced sex offender registration. This reform attracted positive reactions on social media. Local governments in Jiangsu, Guangdong and Chongqing quickly followed the precedent. In 2019, the central government announced that it will establish national sex offender registries by 2022, although it limited the scope of registration to paedophiles. This study explores how this bottom-up reform unfolded and what implications it has in theory and practice. Based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of 2261 posts on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, this study reveals two major players in the current reform: the Chinese feminists who are pursuing a punitive agenda online (a phenomenon known as 'carceral feminism'), and the local governments that are eager to win the public's trust, although such trust is mainly reserved for the central authority in the Chinese political culture (a culture known as 'populist authoritarianism'). Drawing on the findings, this study pushes the discussion about Chinese penal policy beyond the dichotomy of 'penal professionalism' and 'penal populism'. It argues that while the influence of professionalism is evident in central-level policy making, local penal policies can be easily led by populist punitiveness. The latter deserves more academic attention. This study also takes a non-partisan approach to the feminist movements on Chinese social media. It reveals the class conflicts and regional inequality underlying the gender schism. The polarisation effect in online discussion is also highlighted, which alerts policy makers to the reliability of 'public opinion' online.

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A virtual gender asylum? The social media profile picture, young Chinese women’s self-empowerment, and the emergence of a Chinese digital feminism

Cited by 47 publications

References 32 publications

“She uses men to boost her career”: Chinese digital cultures and gender stereotypes of female academics in Zhihu discourses

“She uses men to boost her career”: Chinese digital cultures and gender stereotypes of female academics in Zhihu discourses

Chinese first, woman second: Social media and the cultural identity of female immigrants

Exploring the Bottom-Up Reform of Sex Offender Registration in China: Carceral Feminism and Populist Authoritarianism

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