Occupy Toilets
Young women in China were tired of waiting in long lines to use the restrooms; to gain attention on this issue woman began to go to occupy men’s restrooms. The goal of this movement was to have the government increase the size of washroom facilities, to help in lowering the waiting time. In 20 states in the USA laws have been passed to create a balance between men and women for waiting in line for toilets, this is what the women ultimately wanted.
Shaving One’s Head
Women started shaving their heads to bring awareness to certain issues. Hair holds a symbolic value in Chinese culture, having a shaved head means breaking from the stereotypical image of a women. They used this “shocking” imagery to promote issues such as domestic violence, women having to perform at higher levels than men to gain admission in universities and sexual harassment.
Do You Hear the Women Sing
Women sang a rendition of Les Misérables’ “Do You Hear the People Sing”, which they then turned into “Do You Hear the Women Sing”. Women sang this on commuter trains and gave out pamphlets to bring awareness to sexual violence.
Vagina She Wrote
Women at a University in China began posting pictures of themselves on the internet saying “my vagina wants freedom” and other slogans to promote the importance of consent, the signs were made for an upcoming performance of the vagina monologues. These post quickly gained attention, one of the reasons being that vagina is a taboo word in China. The women’s post gained a lot of backlash and many were “Slut-Shamed”.
Women in China are creating their own movements to acknowledge the problems women face. The end goal of many of these movements is to create gender equality and break away from traditional gender norms. As non-threatening and reasonable these movements are they are met with backlash. Parents don’t want their daughters to be seen in this light because strong women do not marry well, and being a wife and mother is an important task that women are expected to take on. The word feminist is also a word that women are afraid to identify with, because feminist can’t get married. Each time a woman becomes vocal about an issue they are breaking away from the norms that state that women should be reserved and “mother-like”.
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The Road from Hainan’ portrays activist Ye Haiyan as she tries to seek justice for six sexually abused elementary school girls
In China, activism is a sensitive word, hard to even come by someone who identifies as one. The assumption is that activism is following an anti-government sentiment, or is just disregarded and labeled as crazy. The media depicts activists as mentally ill, extremists, and unordinary to the point where the “average” person wouldn’t want to involve themselves. To be a political activist in China, a women at that, fights the repression tactics of the Chinese government with the goal driven at future reform. A well known activist in China by the name of Ye Haiyan has been targeted by the government countless times: “relentlessly pursued, intimidated, beaten, evicted, and detained”. Her efforts included the protesting of the non-conviction of a rape case in Hainan where she was arrested, and the Ten Yuan Brothel action, done with the intent of bringing awareness to the working conditions of sex workers, thus offering sex for free for a period of time. Ye advocated for legalizing prostitution, arguing that with it legal, the industry would be regulated therefor sex workers would be protected.
It is hard for awareness to spread when under no circumstance can the women of this brothel speak to journalists: “The police have been tailing journalists until they leave Bobai. If sex workers were found to be talking to a reporter, they would be arrested and fined and the whole sex shop would be raided and shut down. Many would lose their jobs,” said a local rights activist who claimed to have been threatened by a senior police inspector.”
When asked in an interview if Ye was targeted by parties other than government officials, she responded with information on corruption and resistance in China: “A government official or police officer can personally go to a friend in the community and say, “Hey, I have a part-time job for you.” There is also an official community organization that exists in China called the “Stability Maintenance Team”. Ye was featured in Hooligan Sparrow (documentary about the Chinese government’s relentless pursuit of activist Ye Haiyan) which was the opening selection at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York.
Time Line Highlights:
“After getting a divorce from her husband, the single mother, along with her young daughter, took up an offer to stay at the home of several sex workers in 2003. It was here that she began to hear the sad stories of these young women. The experience prompted her to start a website in 2005 to speak out for sex workers.”
“In 2006 she established the China Grassroots Women’s Rights Center in Wuhan. She sold Chinese medicine and wrote articles to earn money to keep the organization running, but piled up a debt of some 30,000 yuan (about $4,700). Ye tried to register as an NGO, but could not find a government agency to support her organization, which was a requirement for registration. She jokingly says she thought of turning to prostitution to earn money.”
“The police began to notice Ye in 2009, worried about her advocacy of the rights of women, and they began to invite her for tea, a euphemism for interrogation. This monthly process continued until 2011, when she was forced to leave Wuhan to return to Guangxi, the place where she had been married.”
“In the summer of 2010, Ye worked with sex workers in her hometown to organize what is believed to have been the first protest of its kind when a number of the women began asking people to sign a petition calling for an end to discrimination against sex workers and the revocation of laws against prostitution.”
-Cassie Harvey
