Counter-discourse production in social media: A feminist CDA of a Weibo post

Abstract

This article looks at the mechanism of counter-discourse production as a form of feminist digital activism in China. Taking the case of a Weibo post as an illustrative example, it explores how the counter-discourses against gender asymmetry are created, what accounts for the maintenance and dissemination of the counter-discourses, how the counter-discourses become part of the online discursive activism with online and offline effects, and what inspirations the ecology of such counter-discourse formation has for future feminist digital activism. Applying feminist critical discourse analysis (CDA) with linguistic and textual analysis, it seeks to reveal that, with linguistic device of satire, a Weibo post generated a counterpublic that challenges the dominant patriarchal discourse by exposing the hidden nature of its rhetoric and making visible what used to be taken for granted. It further demonstrates that, by utilizing the digital tool of screenshot and media mechanism of hashtag, the counterpublic produced and disseminated counter-discourses that generated, on top of conscious-raising, the will and agency to spread feminist thinking to compete with the dominant gender discourse and promote activism aimed at changing the status quo.