Abstract

In this paper, I look at how the intersectionality offeminism and colonialism on Tinder – one of the biggest datingApps – contributes to the production and circulation of gendertensions in modern China. To do so, I have been staying in aparticular chat group for half a year, created by a femaleTinder user who shows strong dissatisfaction with Chinese menon Tinder and now includes more than 300 women holdingsimilar values. They frequently share experiences of usingTinder characterized by taunting, complaining, and swearingtowards a particular type of male Tinder users who were“typical Chinese men” in their eyes.<br />During this time, I collected various data: the male profiles,chat records on Tinder and in the group, how and why femalesrename themselves mockingly targeting such males. I adoptLinguistic Ethnography to analyze the emerging discourses thatshape the large gender tensions. I aim to show that the logicunderlying why the mocking is always related to westernculture. These men are annoyed about Chinese females gettingin touch with western men, calling them “easy girl” andteaching women patronizingly. However, they simultaneouslyuse profiles with foreigners, western education backgroundsand introduce themselves in English to show off their charm towin the woman's attention. In response, girls sometimesdeliberately provoke these men by praising western men andcomment on the resulted conversations in the chat group.<br />Based on this analysis, I argue that the patriotism enacted bythese men is challenged by the group whose mocking as adiscursive practice, although on the surface aligned withcolonialism (e.g., praising western males), constitutes a form ofanticolonialism potentially advancing the ongoing gendermovement in China. Furthermore, this group's practice pointsto further research on dating platforms and females on thefrontline of gender tension.