The Failure of Social Media Politics? Unpacking Interlocking Discourses in Contemporary China’s Online Anti-Surrogacy Sentiments

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper combines automated scraping of Weibo data and critical discourse analysis to examine the online anti-surrogacy sentiments in China, and finds three nodal points in the interlocking anti-surrogacy discourses. Firstly, through a heterosexual male persona, anti-surrogacy sentiments argue that the legalization of surrogacy would reduce the number of women of marriageable age. Secondly, radical feminist voices argued that surrogacy would make women suffer more in the current gender relations. Finally, gay men were singled out and blamed for exploiting women’s body. Through a discussion of these three voices, we argue that despite their apparent diversity, they are fundamentally conditioned and restricted by the state-corporate power axis in China. As a result, they perpetuate current structures of gender and sexuality inequality, instead of engendering meaningful discussions and social change.