Edited Truth, Maltranslated Consent and Usurped Discursive Space: A Transnational #MeToo Case from China

Abstract 

This talk unpacks a high-profile #MeToo case in which a Chinese female student filed an alleged rape claim against a prominent Chinese business elite in the United States. The case later sparked heated debate on Chinese social media and passionate mobilization among Chinese feminists, thereby linking U.S. legal proceedings with gender politics in China. Of particular interest is the regime of truth production surrounding the case: edited visual evidence, strategic maltranslation, and platformed misogyny shaped public understandings of consent, credibility, and justice, while further shaming the alleged victim. Feminist actors, in turn, contested these dynamics through counter-discourse and what I call “critical feminist solidarity.” Aspects of censorship will also reveal themselves during the course of analysis.  

Bio  

Qi Chen is a Sinologist whose research focuses on social organizing and “civil society” in contemporary China, with particular expertise in women’s issues and feminism supported by her long-term and immersive fieldwork. Her broader research interests include feminist philosophy, theory, and praxis, as well as the relationship between theory and practice within social movements and the interactions between academia and activism.