Social Psychological Analysis of Online Gender Discourse and Gender Relations

With the rapid expansion of social media platforms, online gender discourse has become increasingly prominent in shaping contemporary gender relations, particularly in the Chinese digital context, where unique political and commercial constraints create distinctive patterns of feminist expression. This paper, through a method of literature review and case study analysis, explores how social psychological mechanisms interact with technological infrastructures to shape gender discourse production and circulation on Chinese social media platforms. The study examines two cases in particular: the Gender Watch Women's Voice experience, which serves to demonstrate counter-discourse resistance strategies, and the Mimeng phenomenon, which serves to illustrate neoliberal feminist commercialization. The conclusion of the paper suggests that digital gender discourse functions through "algorithmic-psychological feedback loops," where platform architectures amplify social psychological processes, including group polarization, social identity formation, and collective efficacy building. The research indicates that identical technological features can result in divergent outcomes across different political and commercial contexts. Paradoxically, platform censorship has been observed to strengthen feminist counter-discourses, while commercial platforms co-opt feminist language to reinforce patriarchal structures.