Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
Home> Volumes> Volume CHR Vol.122> Article
Research Article

Decoding Philosophers' Misogynistic Remarks on Xiaohongshu: A Discourse Analysis of 1,037 Comments

Zihan Ma*
Communication University of China

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

On Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle platform with a female-majority user base, misogynistic remarks associated with Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Rousseau have become recurring objects of public commentary. Drawing on Hall's Encoding/Decoding model and feminist critical discourse analysis, this study uses a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods design to analyze 1,037 individually identifiable comment units from 19 philosopher-centered threads documented between May 2021 and August 2026. After 358 non-attitudinal or unclassifiable units were excluded, 679 comments were coded. Oppositional decoding was largest overall (41.1%), followed by dominant decoding (24.9%), playful de-authoritization (22.2%), and negotiated decoding (11.8%). Opposition predominated in the Nietzsche- and Schopenhauer-centered groups, whereas playful de-authoritization led the Rousseau-centered group (44.0%). Unlike opposition, which challenges propositions or their ideological basis, playful de-authoritization primarily lowers the philosopher's status through memes, slang, bodily or biographical satire, and wordplay. The findings show how platform vernaculars broaden ordinary readers' access to canonical interpretation and reshape epistemic authority.

Keywords: Encoding/Decoding model; audience reception; Xiaohongshu; feminist Critical Discourse Analysis; epistemic authority
Published: October 13, 2026
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2026.HT37702
Volume: CHR Vol.122
pp. 74-79
Download PDF

References

  1. Zuckerberg, D. (2018).Not all dead white men: Classics and misogyny in the digital age. Harvard University Press.
  2. Grimwood, T. (2008). The limits of misogyny: Schopenhauer, "On women."Kritike, 2(2), 131–145.
  3. Hatab, L. J. (1981). Nietzsche on woman.The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 19(3), 333–345. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-6962.1981.tb01439.x
  4. Weiss, P. A. (1987). Rousseau, antifeminism, and woman's nature.Political Theory, 15(1), 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591787015001005
  5. Rousselière, G. (2021). Rousseau's theory of value and the case of women.European Journal of Philosophy, 29(2), 285–298. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12575
  6. Lin, X., & Miao, W. (2024). "Becoming a better woman": Xiaohongshu (Red) and the cultural politics of lifestyle platforms.Journal of Intelligent Society, 3(2), 59–79.
  7. Wang, H., & Chang, J. (2025). Lifestyle feminism on RedNote: Digital platforms, mediated intimacy, and the duality of an enclaved feminist public sphere.Social Media + Society, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251409617
  8. Chang, A. (2025). Safe spaces for feminist activists online: Chinese networked feminists' self-censorship strategies in response to online misogyny and government censorship.Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12(1), 495. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04802-2
  9. Hall, S. W. (1980). Encoding/decoding. In S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, & P. Willis (Eds.),Culture, media, language(pp. 128-138). Hutchinson.
  10. Wang, W. (2025).Research on the relationship between social media use and negative body image among female college students: A case study of RedNote[Master's thesis, Hainan University].
  11. Shen, Q., & Cai, Y. (2024). Deliberation about fertility: "Love and sorrow" embedded in the discussions of urban women's fertility on the Xiaohongshu platform.Journal of Chinese Women's Studies, 5, 61-72.
  12. Zhang, X., Zhang, J., & Wang, Y. (2025). The "new fatherhood" on social media: Image construction of male parenting bloggers on Xiaohongshu.Journal of Northeast Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences), 2025(6), 163-170. https://doi.org/10.16164/j.cnki.22-1062/c.2025.06.020
  13. Tang, D. (2026). A study on the construction of gender resistance discourse on social media: A case study of the Xiaohongshu topic "Rejecting the stigmatization of female-related terms" [Master's thesis, Shandong University of Finance and Economics].
  14. Morley, D. G. (1980).The nationwide audience: Structure and decoding. British Film Institute.
  15. Shaw, A. (2017). Encoding and decoding affordances: Stuart Hall and interactive media technologies.Media, Culture & Society, 39(4), 592-602. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443717692741
  16. Song, D. (2026). Hall's encoding/decoding model revisited in the digital platform age: De/encoding, lincoding, affordecoding, and en/decoding.Information, Communication & Society, 29(2), 546-564. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2524571
  17. Lazar, M. M. (2017). Feminist critical discourse analysis. In J. Flowerdew & J. E. Richardson (Eds.),The Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies(pp. 372-387). Routledge.
  18. Fairclough, N. (1989).Language and power. Longman.
  19. van Dijk, T. A. (2001). Critical discourse analysis. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. E. Hamilton (Eds.),The handbook of discourse analysis(pp. 352-371). Blackwell.
  20. Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2001).Methods of critical discourse analysis. Sage.
  21. Xin, B., & Wang, Y. (2024). The cognitive-psychological foundations of critical discourse analysis.Journal of Beijing International Studies University, 46(4), 16-28. https://doi.org/10.12002/j.bisu.527
  22. Aiston, J. (2023). Digitally mediated misogyny and critical discourse studies: Methodological and ethical implications.Modern Languages Open, 0(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.3828/mlo.v0i0.454
  23. Bakhtin, M. (2025).Rabelais and his world(S. Sandler, Trans.). MIT Press. (Original work published 1965)
  24. Shifman, L. (2014).Memes in digital culture. MIT Press.
  25. Harbo, T. F. (2022). Internet memes as knowledge practice in social movements: Rethinking economics' delegitimization of economists.Discourse, Context & Media, 50, 100650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2022.100650
  26. Cervi, L., & Divon, T. (2023). Playful activism: Memetic performances of Palestinian resistance in TikTok #Challenges.Social Media + Society, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231157607
  27. El-kssiri, M., & Elalamy, Y. A. (2024). Social media filtered images as carnivalesque resistance.International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 7(4), 66-70. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2024.7.4.8
  28. Chen, Y. (2025). Content characteristics and creation pathways of library hot texts from the perspective of meme theory: A case study of 460 RedNote texts.Sichuan Library Journal, 2025(4), 39-46.