Policing intimacy, defending the nation: a feminist critical discourse analysis of the “easy girl” label in Chinese social media

This study examines the “easy girl” discourse in contemporary Chinese digital spaces, specifically its construction, circulation, and public contestation following a high-profile transnational scandal. Using feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA), we analyze influential WeChat posts to elucidate how the “easy girl” label is discursively produced and mobilized. The findings show that the “easy girl” discourse functions as a strategic tool for enforcing patriarchal and nationalist boundaries rather than as a simple misogynistic slur. Through strategies of pseudo-scientific pathologization, affective mobilization, and territorialization, the discourse reframes women’s transnational relationships as threats to collective honor. Notably, both men and women disseminate and legitimize this discourse, revealing practices of intra-gender discipline and patriarchal bargaining. We argue that this form of digital misogyny compensates for male anxieties rooted in economic precarity and geopolitical insecurity. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that digital platforms enable affective governance, in which policing female sexuality stabilizes fractured national and masculine identities.