Gendered responses to the killing of cosplayer Ai Kirishima in Indonesian social media comments: A qualitative content analysis

Comments on violence against female cosplayers can shift attention from victims’ experiences to their appearance and alleged behavior. This study examines how social media users positioned the victim and perpetrator in comments about the killing of cosplayer Ai Kirishima. Using qualitative content analysis, the study examined 120 purposively selected comments from four posts on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. Each comment was read in full, coded by its primary meaning, and assigned to one thematic category. Objectification theory, belief in a just world, and a feminist critical discourse perspective informed the interpretation. Four categories emerged: victim blaming (35 comments; 29.2%), empathy for the victim (32 comments; 26.7%), objectification of women’s bodies (28 comments; 23.3%), and defense of the perpetrator (25 comments; 20.8%). Victim-blaming comments contained allegations about the victim’s behavior, while empathetic comments expressed sadness and concern. Objectifying comments focused on appearance, whereas comments defending the perpetrator speculated about his emotional state in ways interpreted as excusing his actions. The study concludes that acknowledgment of the victim’s suffering coexisted with appearance judgments, behavioral allegations, and excuses for the perpetrator, revealing tensions in victim positioning and responsibility for violence. Its theoretical contribution is a contextual interpretation that links objectification, blame attribution, and the perpetrator's excuses through these perspectives. In practice, the findings can inform digital and gender literacy, comment moderation, and victim-sensitive reporting, although their effectiveness requires evaluation. Conclusions apply only to the selected comments; allegations were not treated as established facts.