Misandry, authorities, and gender politics on Weibo: A discourse analytic case study of the 2022 Tangshan restaurant attack in China

Drawing upon a case study of the 2022 Tangshan attack, this study examines misandry voices in Chinese social media against the backdrop of official gender discourse. Applying feminist post-structuralism and critical discourse analysis, it analyzes misandry comments and state-run media posts collected from Weibo to uncover the power dynamics in (re)constructing local gender politics. The findings reveal that misandry comments equip speakers with gendered and political agency to challenge the authoritative narratives that fixate on women as static subjects, unmask the structuralist oppression of women to undermine the authorities’ control over gender politics embedded in nationalist propaganda, and disrupt dominant narratives of male heroism in response to the official adherence to essentialist interpretations of gender. This study also highlights the subversive potential of Chinese social media in creating affective heterotopias to advance cyberfeminist causes and offers insights into addressing gender antagonism in China.