Feminist responses to COVID-19 in China through the lens of affect

ABSTRACT

The COVID −19 pandemic has affected men and women differently since its outbreak. However, we still know little about the challenges that women in China have experienced and how they struggled to make their voices heard in the big story of confronting the pandemic. This study draws on affect theories to understand the affective dimension of feminist responses to the pandemic locally. By examining feminist groups and activists who have been vocal on the Sina Weibo platform since the outbreak, this study aims to answer 1. What are the roles of emotion and affect in feminist responses to COVID-19 on Weibo? 2. How does Weibo facilitate the expression and transmission of emotion and affect? The findings will add insight to our understanding of the affective dimension of feminist responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, opening space for thinking about the intersections between feminist politics, the affective, and digital media technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• social media
• feminism
• affect
• China

Acknowledgments

I gratefully thank the two anonymous reviewers whose insightful comments and suggestions helped to improve the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jinman Zhang

Jinman Zhang is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University. Her research interests center on social media and digital feminism. Jinman’s previous research has been published by Digital Studies/Le Champ Numérique, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Social Media and Society and The Conversation. E-mail: [email protected]