Being independent women in blogs: young Chinese women bloggers’ construction of independent persona and strategic subjectivity on Xiaohongshu

Creator labor has often been considered precarious and unequal in women blogger studies. However, many young Chinese women engage in and set up entrepreneurship through blogging. To explore their motivation and strategies, this article drew on ten in-depth interviews with young Chinese women bloggers who focused on creating “independent women” blogs on Xiaohongshu. Within the case of “independent women” bloggers, I found out young Chinese women bloggers actualized their independence by strategically presenting and monetizing their independence as an online persona on social media platforms. In the mobilization of entrepreneurial blogging, they had been aware of the precarity but had not considered it a risk, instead, they valued the potential of profitability and opportunities that creator labor brought most. Meanwhile, they were trapped in internalized friction with the “never have done enough” discourse. In the lens of neoliberal feminism, I propose their motivation and strategies as “strategic subjectivity” in creator labor, which refers to their strategic mobilization of entrepreneurial blogging in actualizing independence and personal success. The results add nuance to the understanding of the paradox between empowerment and precarious labor in entrepreneurial blogging, highlighting young women bloggers’ autonomy in precarious yet negotiable creator labor.