Can Social Media be a Place for Feminism?: Effects of Aggressive Comments on User Engagement in Collective Action for Gender Equality in China

By conducting an online experiment with female online users in China, this study examines how being exposed to aggressive comments against a specific gender group affects female users’ gender identity, emotional reactions, and willingness to engage in corrective actions. Although our analysis did not show the expected pattern that exposure to incivility against female online users’ gender group in online comments would make their gender identity salient, female online users still experienced negative emotions. Our study also revealed that female online users support corrective actions via social media page moderators and the government after being exposed to aggressive comments against their gender group.