Technical Communication Quarterly Jul 2021

Chinese Women’s Reproductive Justice and Social Media

Hua Wang Michigan Technological University

Abstract

By utilizing rhetorical analysis with a focus on agency and feminist rhetoric, this article focuses on China’s most popular pregnancy and mothering app – Babytree – to examine how users assume the mantle of technical writers, writing their pregnant and mothering experiences into online narratives and selling them to generate income. This article shows how Chinese women take advantage of the technical affordances of Babytree to share their embodied experiences and, in so doing, respond to and push back against the traditional norms of motherhood and healthcare provision. The women whose experiences are examined here participate in social media as a way to reenter job markets by using their embodied experiences, thus asserting their rhetorical agency politically and economically while implicitly critiquing the traditional situation of contemporary pregnant women and the state of motherhood in China.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2021-07-03
DOI
10.1080/10572252.2021.1930178
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Kong et al. (2026)
    Leveraging Persuasive Technologies for Global Health: Insights Across COVID-19 …
    Communication Design Quarterly
  2. Agbozo et al. (2025)
    Archives, AI, and Technical and Professional Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Ray et al. (2024)
    Mapping Interaction Design in Global Health Interventions: A Comparative Analys…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. Madson (2024)
    Cannabis Risk Communication: A Scoping Review with a Research Agenda
    Technical Communication Quarterly

References (44) · 2 in this index

  1. 2020 Workplace Mother Survival Survey Report. (2020, May 15). (H. Wang, Trans.). Retrieved from https://henan…
  2. 10.1525/9780520957725
     ↗
  3. 10.2307/j.ctt17kk9p8
     ↗
  4. 10.1080/1479142042000332134
     ↗
  5. 10.1016/j.midw.2007.03.001
     ↗
Show all 44 →
  1. Chou, C. (2017). “Traditional postpartum practices and rituals: A qualitative systematic review” (2007), by C…
  2. 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2001.00259.x
     ↗
  3. 10.2471/BLT.11.090399
     ↗
  4. Forward Together. (2020). Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice 2005. Retrieved from https://forwardtoge…
  5. Friedman M. (2009)
    Mothering and blogging: The radical act of the mommyblog
  6. 10.2979/ete.2010.15.2.103
     ↗
  7. 10.1016/j.midw.2012.07.003
     ↗
  8. 10.1016/S0968-8080(10)36523-2
     ↗
  9. Goodling L. (2015)
    Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy
  10. Haas A. (2009)
    Webbing cyberfeminist practice: Communities, pedagogies, and social action
  11. 10.1111/1471-0528.12971
     ↗
  12. Herndl C. G. (2007)
    Communicative practices in workplaces and the professions
  13. Huang P. (2004)
    Academic Journal Guangzhou Medicine College
  14. 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008994
     ↗
  15. 10.1526/003601107782638684
     ↗
  16. Jones (2016)
    Narrative Inquiry in Human-Centered Design: Examining Silence and Voice to Prom…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  17. 10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003
     ↗
  18. Koerber (2006)
    Rhetorical Agency, Resistance, and the Disciplinary Rhetorics of Breastfeeding
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  19. 10.1016/j.anr.2012.02.005
     ↗
  20. 10.1023/A:1024049516797
     ↗
  21. Li S. (2006)
    Market and Population Analysis
  22. Light A. (2008)
    Designing for social justice: People, technology, learning
  23. 10.1186/1471-2458-10-566
     ↗
  24. 10.1111/soc4.12398
     ↗
  25. Moravec M. (2011)
    Motherhood online
  26. 10.1080/07491409.2017.1285839
     ↗
  27. Nesbitt K. (2009)
    Webbing cyberfeminist practice: Communities, pedagogies, and social action
  28. Owens K. H. (2015)
    Writing childbirth: Women’s rhetorical agency in labor and online
  29. Reproductive Justice. Retrieved from https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice
  30. Ross, L. J. (2009). Understanding reproductive justice. SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collect…
  31. Sanger A. (2004)
    Beyond choice: Reproductive freedom in the 21st century
  32. Seigel M. (2014)
    The rhetoric of pregnancy
  33. 10.1080/13698575.2015.1127333
     ↗
  34. 10.1080/09589236.2017.1301813
     ↗
  35. 10.36019/9780813591049
     ↗
  36. Wang, K. (2019). “Reproduction with Chinese characteristics”: A rhetorical-cultural analysis of the practice …
  37. Wang, X. & Li, W. (2017, September 7). Voices rise for painless childbirth. China Daily. Retrieved from https…
  38. Wen, S. (2012, February 2). For all your parenting questions, Babytree.com got the answers. Retrieved from ht…
  39. 10.1525/9780520947610
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Pedagogy Apr 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism african american rhetorics cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing graduate education two-year college teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions digital rhetoric multimodality social media literacy studies race and writing gender and writing community literacy literary studies editorial matter
  2. Philosophy & Rhetoric Sep 2024
    Where’s the Rhetoric? Imagining a Unified Field ↗
    Joshua Hanan
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism composition theory genre theory discourse analysis cultural rhetorics argument qualitative research quantitative research digital rhetoric social media grammar and mechanics gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric affect and writing body and rhetoric editorial matter
  3. Rhetorica Sep 2021
    The Rhetorical Arts of Women in Aviation, 1911–1970 by Sara Hillin ↗
    Jennifer Keohane
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism feminist rhetorics argument archival research multimodality race and writing gender and writing body and rhetoric book reviews
  4. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  5. Philosophy & Rhetoric Apr 2025
    Introduction: On the Desirability of Speaking to Others ↗
    Nirvana Tanoukhi; Nicholas Dunn
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument social media race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric literary studies editorial matter