“We’re like walking on thin ice for our happiness”: Platform-mediated reproductive governance in Chinese women’s IVF narratives on RedNote

In vitro fertilization (IVF) has become an important component of population governance in China, particularly following its incorporation into the national health insurance system. Drawing on Foucauldian biopolitics and reproductive governance, this study examines how Chinese women publicly narrate their IVF journeys on RedNote and how platform-mediated interactions shape the governance of reproduction. Analysis of these narratives identifies four key themes—quantified visibility through self-tracking, stigma and negotiated visibility in narrating IVF failure, hope sustained through care and support in online sisterhood, and anticipatory motherhood articulated through self-positioning and relational affirmation. The findings show that through practices of self-disclosure, repeated posting, and peer interaction on RedNote, reproductive bodies, failure, hope, and maternal identities become publicly visible and relationally meaningful. The study conceptualizes this process as “platform-mediated reproductive governance,” whereby peer-based monitoring, emotional support, and relational affirmation intersect with established medical and institutional authority. This perspective extends reproductive governance scholarship by adding a communicative and relational dimension and showing how digital platforms mediate not only the visibility of reproductive experiences but also the ways women negotiate bodily management, failure, hope, and maternal identity.