Core Concepts
Feminist discourses face backlash in online discussions on gender-related violence, revealing gender-blind sexism and challenges for digital feminist activism in China.
Abstract
In this study, Yigang Qin and colleagues analyze online discussions on Weibo regarding the Tangshan beating incident in China. They highlight the challenges faced by feminist activists in addressing gender-related violence and sexism. The content is structured as follows:
Introduction: Feminists' pursuit of gender equality faces challenges in China.
Related Work: Gendered online discourses and collective actions are explored.
Digital Feminist Activism in China: The #MeToo movement and criticisms of digital feminist activism are discussed.
Gender-Blind Framing in Online Public Discourse: The concept of gender-blind sexism is examined.
Background: Details of the Tangshan incident are provided.
Data and Methods: Data collection, content classification, topic modeling, and critical discourse analysis methods are explained.
Findings: Trends and topics of public discussion are analyzed, focusing on Crime-related and Gender-related content.
Further Analysis: The mismatch between hashtags and text content, as well as the semantic relevance, is explored.
Conclusion: The study sheds light on the challenges faced by feminist activists in online discussions on gender issues.
Stats
"In total, the 645,864 non-empty posts were classified by the BERT model into three classes: Crime-related (106,187 posts, 16.44%), Gender-related (104,209 posts, 16.13%), and Irrelevant or Ineffective (435,468 posts, 67.42%)."
"Crime-related posts aligned better with popular hashtags compared to Gender-related posts."
"Crime-related posts predominantly discussed gangs, umbrella personnel, situation reports, criminal details, and related cases."
"Gender-related posts focused on women's rights, violence against women, denouncement of perpetrators, and sharing anecdotes and warnings."
Quotes
"This is not a matter of gender confrontation or quality, but a resolute struggle between our society as a whole and the forces of darkness and evil..."
"What I am angry about is the naked harassment of women in broad daylight... the unprovoked beating with physical advantage... the indifference of bystanders, the silence of men."