Conceptualizing gossip as a counterdiscourse: Alternative ways of publicly alleging sexual misconduct in an online groupie community

Abstract

Gossiping has historically been constructed as a morally problematic and evil-natured activity in ways that stigmatize and oppress the communicative activities of women. The association of public accusations of sexual misconduct with gossip can effectively discredit and refute the accusation by the victims. However, gossip is taken as a credible source to expose the misconduct of musicians in a Chinese online groupie community, where fans can freely expose musicians’ sexual misbehaviors in a way that they cannot outside of this place. By conceptualizing gossip as a counterdiscourse, this study explored how gossip can help female fans reject the widely accepted ways of making public allegations of sexual misconduct and counter the unequal distribution of communicative spaces for them to make these claims. This study calls for more attention to the contribution that gossip can make in helping marginalized social groups counter the restriction and stigmatization of their communicative actions.