The viral gender antagonism on social media: examining the role of multimodal framing and gender identity

What drives viral gender-antagonistic discourse on social media? This study proposes to examine the role of multimodal framing and gender identity cues. We analyzed 22,925 posts and 1.15 million comments related to sexual violence on Weibo, one of the most prominent social media platforms in China. Results from generalized linear mixed models show that multimodal framing strategies including sensationalizing and personalizing framing significantly increase gender antagonism, particularly when the message is posted by someone of the outgroup gender. In contrast, entertaining framing reduces gender antagonism, while explanatory framing has a neutral effect. Gender dynamics also play a critical role: female commenters are more reactive to male-authored sensationalizing posts. These results highlight the importance of framing strategies and identity perceptions in shaping discourse on gender issues, offering insights for social media governance and feminist communication practices.