Weibo Feminism

Expression, Activism, and Social Media in China

Aviva Xue, Kate Rose

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781350231504
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Asian Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

On China's biggest social media platform, Weibo, feminists are staying one step ahead of the censors. Weibo Feminism is the first book to explore in-depth the connections and forms of resistance that feminist activists in China are making in online spaces despite increasing crackdowns on free speech and public expression. Aviva Wei Xue and Kate Rose explore the many forms of contemporary feminism in China, from activist campaigns against sexual harassment and domestic violence, through to Weibo Reading groups of feminist texts and subversive online novels published on the platform. The book includes an in-depth case study of feminist support networks for overwhelmingly female frontline medical staff that have sprung up on social media in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Weibo Feminism goes on to asks what lessons are being learned in contemporary China for the cause of social justice for women around the world.

1

Feminist Outbreaks in the Digital World

On February 6, 2020, Liang Yu (username @梁钰 stacey) posted on China’s largest microblogging app Weibo asking whether there were places to donate feminine hygiene products to female medical staff working in the coronavirus epicenter of Hubei province. Hearing a lot about the lack of various materials, she immediately sensed that women on the frontline must also endure difficulty during their periods. By the following day, many doctors and nurses had confirmed their urgent need. As no donation channels were available, Liang initiated the Stand By Her project (姐妹战疫安心行动) to organize donations herself. With no relevant experience or examples to follow, Liang enrolled a team of 91 volunteers online (87 of whom were women) and cooperated with Lingshan Charity Foundation, an authorized charity organization, to collect public donations. To deliver the female hygiene products, which were not listed as emergency relief supplies in the locked-down regions of Hubei, Liang and her team contacted manufacturers who had storage in Hubei and found transporters (mostly volunteers) who had licenses to enter the lockdown regions. The timeline and details of this work have been closely compiled in an article posted on Weibo, authorized by Liang’s team, for public reference (Chenmi 2020).

Working more than 20 hours a day, Liang led her team in an efficient and transparent way, sending materials worth more than two million yuan (over 330,000 USD) to 84,500 workers in 205 medical teams (Chenmi 2020). Liang publicized daily on her Weibo account the exact amounts of money spent and items distributed. By making every step traceable, the project leaves no excuses for government interference or anti-feminist slandering. Her successful endeavor led to Liang Yu’s invitation to the 2020 Girl Up Leadership Summit sponsored by the U.N. Foundation.

In addition to the devoted work of Liang and her team, the project was able to run successfully because of feminists on Weibo, who garnered public concern through protesting against period shame and supporting the needs and contributions of women during the pandemic. In light of recurrent exposure of corruption and inefficiency in government initiatives, the public chose to trust a grassroots feminist project. Chinese feminists have used Weibo for years to voice criticism, facing censorship of posts and accounts, harassment, and persecution. The power they nonetheless accumulated in swaying public opinion found an outlet during the pandemic period.

Global responses to COVID-19 have exacerbated inequalities (Fortier 2020; Czymara et al. 2020; Morse and Anderson 2020), and Weibo feminists have highlighted China’s everyday marginalization of women brought to the surface during the pandemic. The discrepancy between Chinese women’s professional contributions and their powerless status in politics and society was brought to the forefront. Women make up 51.7 percent of professional and technical workers in China, surpassing their male peers. The female–male ratio in professional and technical workers ranks first in the world.¹ However, despite women “holding up half of the sky” professionally, they are oppressed and exploited under male-dominated politics and misogynistic mass culture. Only 16.8 percent of legislators, senior officials, and managers are women. The female–male ratio of births has long remained the world’s lowest. As for overall gender equality, China now ranks 107th among the 156 countries listed, its worst ranking since the annual Global Gender Gap Report was first published in 2006.

The COVID-19 response stems from the long-existing tension between female professionalism and masculine hierarchal politics. According to the National Health Commission of China, 28,000 female medical workers across China were sent to the epicenter of Wuhan, making up two-thirds of the total workforce (Ke 2020). According to U.N. Women (2020), it is even higher: “In Hubei province, China, the epicenter of the initial outbreak, more than 90 percent of the health-care workers on the frontline response to COVID-19 are women” (15). The men who control the coordination of resources failed to provide ample support to women working on the frontline, and it was brought to public attention that those in public decision-making positions (mostly men) usually neglect women’s contributions and needs.

Why is such contradictory inequality found in China? Women receive education, are trained to be doctors, teachers, scholars, and technical workers, but do not gain decision-making and resource-coordinating positions. Women participate in social production, support their families, are independent and self-reliant, yet families still do not want girls. If Chinese women’s power is not used to protect and empower themselves, where does their power go?

The existing political and cultural mechanism hijacks and diverts women’s power for the benefit of their opponents. Currently, a massive autonomous feminist movement is breaking this cycle and restoring women’s agency in women’s work. Digital mass media provides unprecedented opportunities to bring feminists together. Recognizing the potential and growing success, the government is doing its best to block feminists from using this tool.

Before exploring Weibo feminist knowledge and methodology, this chapter will focus on the COVID-19 response and how the authorities have attempted to hijack women’s power or erase their existence. It will also discuss how women defend their autonomy and agency, create their own counternarratives, construct political common ground based on their sex, and refuse to be tokenized.

Stand by her: Feminists Against Hijacking

The COVID-19 response was met by civil society organizations, which were very efficient compared to the government’s response. Women initiated or participated in many such organizations. When the Wuhan government stopped all public transportation without any alternative measures in a city of more than 8,000 square kilometers with 11 million people, citizens in Wuhan organized a group of volunteer drivers to transport medical workers every day (China Daily 2020). A cafe run by a young woman named Tian Yazhen provided 7,850 cups of free coffee to medical workers after the lockdown began (Xie 2020). Han Hong Love Charity Foundation, established by the famous female singer Han Hong, raised money via public donations and transported medical equipment and supplies worth more than 200 million yuan.² Among those public self-organizing projects, Stand By Her stands out as a feminist project supporting the needs of female frontline workers when the established social and political institutions failed to address these needs.

Liang Yu highlights women’s agency in the Stand By Her project. The project reinforces women’s identity as citizens and professionals and resists marginalization in male-centered nationalist narratives. The movement conveys feminist ideals that appeal to public disappointment with government corruption and mismanagement. The project’s slogan is “Sisters Combating the Pandemic Free from Worries,”³ emphasizing solidarity and mutual aid. The logo depicts volunteers delivering donations to a medical team from Xinjiang. Avoiding symbols related to beauty and vulnerability, it shows women working for public welfare. Liang also replaced the dot on the character心 (heart) with a used sanitary pad. This not only manifests the theme of the project; it is also a bold protest against period shame.

This affirmation of women’s agency and ability stands in stark contrast to government rhetoric regarding the pandemic, which was “superficial at best and anti-feminist to the core” (C. Chen 2020). The hashtag “Sisters Combating the Pandemic Free from Worries” differs greatly from “Paying Respect to the Amazing Her” (致敬了不起的她) created by the government’s All-China Women’s Federation, “Publicizing the Most Beautiful Her” (晒晒最美的她) by the People’s Daily and “Thank You, My Goddess” (谢谢你我的女神) by CCTV (China Central Television). “Paying respect to” is recurrent political rh...