Feminist Uses of Social Media in China: Self-Presentation, Strategies, and Obstacles

Abstract

In recent years, feminism has got a more comprehensive range of supporters in China. But feminists on Chinese social media are usually stereotyped as radical, hysterical, and irrational. However, through semi-structured interviews with 15 feminists who actively use social media, their confusion of identity self-presentation and the compromise in the face of many online scenarios are presented. This study reveals the main obstacles feminists encounter when using social media to pursuit women's rights and the flexible and individualized strategies they adopted in the Chinese context. Finally, this thesis argues that feminism has a limited transformative effect on social media. The interplay between feminists' situations and their uses of social media is gradually deepening feminists' dilemmas in the public sphere. This study aims to describe the online experiences and difficulties of young Chinese feminists, thus contributing to a more critical understanding of hashtag feminism in China. Keywords: Chinese feminism; social media; hashtag feminism; online strategy; semi-structured interviews; feminist identity