Soph from the future 5/22/22
READINGS: Hong Fincher, Leta. Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China. London: Verso, 2018.
- What is the main point the author tries to make?
The Chinese Government, led by Xi Jinping, has made an enemy out of activist groups and individuals. China is enacting violence on women’s freedom of choice to uphold the patriarchal systems that depends on the control of a women’s body. Leta Hong Fincher is trying to explain the MANY reasons why present-day Chinese feminists must keep fighting for women’s rights.
- What has changed for women in China? Has anything changed?
While there has been some change for women, specifically in marriage laws, China is still very much in control of a women’s reproductive rights. The one-child and two-child policy, for example. Also the fines and punishments for women who want to have a child without being married, or choose to not have children at all. This government and societal pressure to conform and conceive is even harder for Chinese Women who are queer or of different ethnic groups. The fight has just begun…
Quoting the text, “So many people used to think that feminism was unnecessary because the Communist revolution established equality between women and men…But more people today see that, actually, we have a lot more work to do to improve women’s rights.”
- Is the story of women in China a story of progress?
From the outside looking in, I’d say there’s progress… there’s still A LONG way to go, but it’s progress nonetheless. There seems to be a growing restlessness among young people, and more people are becoming inclined to stand up to defend their bodily rights and freedoms…
“As feminist activists continue to disrupt the patriarchal, authoritarian order, the government will likely find new ways to persecute them. Yet growing numbers of Chinese women now recognize that they deserve to be treated with dignity and are pushing back against gender discrimination, sexual violence and misogyny. They are seizing control of their own reproduction, threatening the population-planning goals that are central to the Chinese Communist Party’s strategy for surviving beyond the Soviet Union’s seven-decade run. Even if all the feminist activists in China are arrested or otherwise silenced, the forces of resistance they have unleashed will be extremely difficult to stamp out “
- How do the topics we have covered in this course help you understand better the situation of women in present-day China?
Looking at our study of Chinese History, we’ve learned that women have always been fighting back against the systems put in place to control them. Sometimes working within the systems themselves and becoming leaders, like Fu Hao or Empress Wu. Or, climbing up the social ranks like the concubine women who used their artistic skills to reclaim their power. We also learned that some women rebelled more subtly through Nüshu script… Or VERY loudly through women’s liberation movements during Maoist Era China.
There’s been a constant theme of unrest and rebellion all this time. But, what we’re seeing now, as argued by Hong, is a united front AGAINST the Chinese patriarchy. A fired up group of feminists (many being men) who are determined to dismantle these corrupt systems of power once and for all.
—————————————————————
TO DO LIST
- Reflection #3
- Final Project
*I’m going to write my third reflection later in the week, once I have more of my final project done. Ideally, I’m going to hand in the reflection at the same time I hand in my final project (:
TADA LIST
*ALL 5-15 REPORTS UP TO DATE*
- Week 10 5-15 Report
- *SKIPPED OPTIONAL WEEK 11 5-15 REPORT*
- Week 12 5-15 Report
- Reflection #2
- Week 13 5-15 Report
- Week 14 5-15 Report
- Week 15 5-15 Report
