Dismantling Gender Blindness in Online Discussion of a Crime/Gender Dichotomy

TL;DR

This paper analyzes social media discourse on gender and crime in China, revealing gender-blind sexism that undermines feminist activism and discussing implications for digital feminist movements.

Contribution

It uncovers discursive patterns of gender-blind sexism in Chinese social media and highlights restrictions on grassroots feminist activism in cyberspace.

Findings

Gender-blind sexism refutes feminist discourses.

Discursive patterns reveal emerging gender debates.

Restrictions hinder grassroots feminist activism.

Abstract

Contemporary feminists utilize social media for activism, while backlashes come along. The gender-related discourses are often diminished when addressing public events regarding sexism and gender inequality on social media platforms. The dichotomized debate around the Tangshan beating incident in China epitomized how criminal interpretations of gender-related violence became a backlash against feminist expressions. By analyzing posts on Weibo using mixed methods, we describe the emerging discursive patterns around crime and gender, uncovering the inherent gender-blind sexism that refutes feminist discourses on the social platform. We also highlight the critical restrictions facing grassroots feminist activism in Chinese cyberspace and propose implications for the design and research related to digital feminist activism.