Harsh Realities and Strategic Alignment: A Computational Analysis of Chinese Feminist Hashtag Activism on Weibo During COVID-19
| Type | Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Co-author | Xintong Ma |
| Publish Date | |
| Conference | 110th National Communication Association Annual Convention (NCA 2024) |
| Location | New Orleans, USA |
Research Question
How did Chinese feminist hashtag activism on Weibo respond to COVID-19? The study examines changes in discussion, dominant themes, and language used to advocate for women's recognition.
Methodology
The corpus comprised 135,498 posts from two feminist hashtags, including 852 original posts. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling of the original posts identified key themes. Chinese Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) dictionary analysis measured language and emotion indicators, comparing gender differences and changes over time.
Key Findings
Discussions highlighted frontline women's unmet needs, media stereotypes, and undervalued labor. Activists linked these concerns to state priorities and wider social needs while advocating for marginalized women. The study identifies strategic alignment as an important feature of this activism.
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