Paper short abstract:

This research aims to critically analyze how the data of pregnant women is utilized and commodified differently from the data of their male partners and how the women are enacted as the other during this process by an extended case study of a Chinese parenting app.

Paper long abstract:

In 2023, a few users of Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) reported an unsettling phenomenon: when a heterosexual couple registers together on a Chinese parenting app, they will be assigned a “mom in pregnancy” tag and a “dad in pregnancy” tag respectively. According to the tags, more baby products will be shown to the mother, while sexually suggestive content and advertisements for prostitutions will be shown to the father. This paper aims to critically analyze this case within the framework of critical data studies, with a particular focus on how the data of pregnant women is utilized and commodified differently from the data of their male partners and how the women are enacted as the other during this process. The commodification of the “pregnant” data in dyadic relationships is a historical phenomenon in China, as some netizens reported that one common spot for the distribution of prostitution flyers is the gate of obstetrics and gynecology hospitals. However, it is still understudied how big data has reshaped and exacerbated this process. By visiting previous literature in critical data studies, Marxist feminism, and digital capitalism, this research aims to discuss a) how data collected from women in a dyadic relationship is commodified and what are the follow-up actions; b) how digital capitalism, if not all capitalism, plays a role in perpetuating the otherness of women; and c) how digital capitalism otherize the pregnant from discourses about sex; the sexual workers from family; and all women and men from the digital capitalist system.