Integrated Resistance
Young Women’s Digital and Everyday Contestations of China’s Three-Child Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19220643 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yixuan Wang (0000-0002-5084-2455, Central South University), Zequan Pan (Central South University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-23 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Women s Studies in Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0749-1409 • E-ISSN: 2152-999X |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07491409.2026.2684303 |
| OpenAlex | W7164844737 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
China’s shift from long-term birth restriction to the three-child policy has intensified public debate on reproduction, gendered expectations, and state intervention in private life. This study examines how young urban women in China articulate cross-field resistance to the state-led three-child policy through digital discourse and everyday practices. Drawing on critical discourse analysis of 562 posts from Sina Weibo and Douban (2021–2024) and in-depth interviews with 20 women aged 22–34, the analysis shows how online expressions and offline life strategies converge to challenge dominant pronatalist narratives. Findings reveal four interrelated dimensions of resistance: reframing family planning as a form of structural governance rather than a demographic necessity; politicizing reproductive decision-making as a site of gendered power struggle; foregrounding class-based critiques that expose the unequal distribution of reproductive and caregiving burdens; and constructing modes of female identity that move beyond the normative role of motherhood. Particular attention is given to the only child generation, who occupy a historically specific position both as beneficiaries of earlier gender-equality discourses and targets of intensified pronatalist expectations. Their simultaneous pursuit of individual development and heightened familial responsibilities amplifies the tensions embedded in contemporary reproductive governance. By conceptualizing these practices as a form of “integrated resistance”, the study demonstrates how young women negotiate limited political space to reshape reproductive subjectivity and contest state biopolitics
Cognitive reframing · CONTEST · Foregrounding · Identity (music) · Ideology · Negotiation · Normative · Politics · Power (physics) · Subjectivity · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Reproductive Health and Technologies
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Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis
The Chinese path to individualization
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |