Ma, YexuanChen, Sikky ShiqiHolroyd, EleanorWong, William Chi Wai2025-04-152025-04-152024-11-18Archives of Sexual Behavior, ISSN: 0004-0002 (Print); 1573-2800 (Online), Springer, 54(2), 589-604. doi: 10.1007/s10508-024-03015-z0004-00021573-2800http://hdl.handle.net/10292/19064The feminist approach to sexuality education challenges and changes power dynamics and inequalities embedded within sexuality, while social media serves as a tool for building online communities and raising awareness about feminist issues. Adopting a feminist approach to sexuality education, particularly through social media platforms, remains largely unexplored and underdeveloped. In China, where traditional sex education is often limited and stigmatized, sexuality has been influenced by a complex interplay of traditional gender norms, evolving social attitudes, and state intervention. The aim of this study was to evaluate both sex educators and their online followers' perceptions of the implementation of social media-based sexuality education using a feminist approach in China. Semi-structured online interviews were carried out with 10 educators and 18 young followers, followed by thematic analysis using NVivo. The findings indicated that social media-based sexuality education using a feminist approach might be used to help disrupt oppressive norms about gender and sexuality and foster a positive attitude toward women's sexuality. Chinese online sex educators strategically avoided the term "feminism" and creatively evaded censorship and spread their messages in alignment with government policies while advocating for gender equality. However, participants also highlighted the existence of barriers, including internal conflicts, gender imbalances, social stigmatization, and political constraints, which needed to be addressed in order to effectively implement this approach.Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ChinaFeminismGenderSexuality educationSocial mediaChinaFeminismGenderSexuality educationSocial media4405 Gender Studies44 Human Society1117 Public Health and Health Services1699 Other Studies in Human Society1701 PsychologyClinical Psychology4405 Gender studies5203 Clinical and health psychology5205 Social and personality psychologyHumansSocial MediaFemaleSex EducationChinaFeminismMaleQualitative ResearchAdolescentYoung AdultAdultHumansSex EducationQualitative ResearchFeminismAdolescentAdultChinaFemaleMaleYoung AdultSocial MediaHumansSocial MediaFemaleSex EducationChinaFeminismMaleQualitative ResearchAdolescentYoung AdultAdultJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1007/s10508-024-03015-z